Where Are You Pitching Your Tent?

Where will this decision lead me?

Now the first question is not so difficult to ask, but this question is one we fail to consider or don’t want to think about. Where is this going to lead me? In other words, stop and think about it! Somebody said that an unexamined life really isn’t worth living. You see, most people, Christians included, just take out on some course of life and don’t give much thought to where they’re headed, then when they get there, they wonder how they got there and in some quiet desperation wonder if it was worth it all. In our mad rush from task to task, from job to job, from this thing to that, we fail to call enough time-outs to reflect on the direction our lives are taking and see where we have been pitching our tents.

How will this affect the other people in my life?

You’re not the only one involved in your decision-making. If you’re married, then you’ve got a husband or wife to think about. You may have kids you need to consider. You’ve got friends, and at the very least you got a multitude of people all around you watching your life seeing if you measure up to the Christian life you claim to live.

Some of you won’t come to church. You use work for an excuse. You use some other thing. People are watching you, and no matter how much you say you love the Lord, they’re not listening to what you say nearly so much as they’re watching what you chose to do. I know a lady who is a fine woman. She can’t come to church because of her health. She can’t sit in a pew that long. It hurts too much to get out to church, but I see her all over town. She can ride in a car for great lengths of time. She can go to the carnival. She can shop till she drops.

Now suppose that woman tried to lead someone to Christ – how far would she get? Suppose she tried to tell her children that they ought to go to church and love the Lord – would her words have meaning?

There are countless decisions you make every day that have great effects on the people in your life, and our failure to consider them only shows how selfish we really are. Dads, today we honor our fathers. Listen, you want to be a great father to those kids? A great husband to that wife? Then make your decisions according to how they affect the ones closest to you.

Conclusion

Where have you pitched your tent? You and I are surveying the fields today, much as Abraham and Lot did so long ago, and I ask you, where are you going to go? What are you going to pursue? Whose agenda will you follow? Look around you, and as you do you’re going to see well-watered fields and fertile lands, you know, potential for success, bigger and better incomes, more personal pleasure, but at what cost? What will be the outcome? Surely those things are not bad in and of themselves, but are they in God’s will for you?

A.W. Tozer said, "A whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to accept Christ without forsaking the world." I think he’s right. Listen, Christ has called us out of darkness to walk in the light. He’s called you to something great, and you’ll not find it by pitching your tent toward Sodom. I look at some of you today, and I can guess from where you are where you pitched your tent in years past. Some of you chose to make camp with the Lord, and I praise and thank God for you and your testimony. But to be very honest, I am deeply concerned about others here today who are living in the moment, who cannot see past Friday, who cannot see past the polished wax on the hood of the car, and I fear for you. It is time for a change in your life; it is time to roll up and move your tent. If you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior, then its time for you to forsake the world and pitch your tent with the Lord!