HOW BADLY CAN WE VEER OFF FROM GOD’S WILL? — Part 10b

The View From Above: Thoughts To Help With Everyday Life

October 10, 2026

Pastor Paul Stephens

HOW BADLY CAN WE VEER OFF FROM GOD’S WILL? — Part 10b

That is something worth examining from time to time.

There are so many moving parts to our lives, and it’s very challenging to get all of them moving in the same direction.

Family, finances, work, calling, ministry, then all the internal dynamics of our thought life, the attitudes of our heart, and state of our soul.

That’s the challenge, isn’t it?

Getting all the moving parts marshaled on the same course of comporting with the will of God.

We’re in church, making every effort to serve God, but the marriage is in chaos, finances are in disarray, our working life is struggling…and there are any number of things that fall into the category of moving parts in our lives.

A struggling marriage can keep you out of ministry, unwise financial management can disqualify you from your calling.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.

But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

We can be doing right in some areas and not in others.

Life requires discipline in every area of our lives; otherwise, we can find ourselves unfit for service.

Consider the athlete who has the talent, skill, and ability, but he won’t discipline himself to stay in peak physical conditioning…he may lose his starting role…the bench becomes his future until he gets his act together.

That is what can happen to us spiritually in our efforts to prevent veering away from God’s perfect will for our lives.

Give consideration to the moving parts of your life…are any of them in disarray, out of sync with a life that is striving for God’s will and purpose?

Are there habits of sin and compromise that are hindering you?

It’s kind of like tending sheep.

The sheepdog is running around the perimeter of the sheep herd trying to keep the strays from separating from the herd.

The sheepdog has to get all of them moving in the same direction.

We may have some of the components of our lives going astray and preventing seamless forward progress.

Start taking steps today to get the moving parts of your life moving on the same trajectory.