Just a Wobble?

As my husband, Jerry, and I went out for an early-morning bike ride, I noticed a broken spoke in my front wheel. I stopped and snapped it off the rim.

‘Don’t you think we should get that fixed?’ Jerry asked.
‘One missing spoke won’t make a difference,’ I declared.

At first, it didn’t. For some time, the barely-noticeable wobble in the wheel had no effect on how the bicycle performed.

After a few days, though, the wobble grew much worse. My husband was right in his concern; eventually I had to stop riding the bike because doing so posed a risk to my safety.

So it is with our spiritual life. At first, neglecting one of the spokes of spiritual disciplines in our lives—Bible study or prayer or worship or fellowship with other Christians—seems hardly to affect us.

But over time, our lives may develop a decided wobble. And if we continue the neglect, our failure to pursue the things of God will have a profound impact on our relationship with God and others.

The early church knew the value of spiritual disciplines. Scripture tells us they ‘devoted themselves’ to the pursuit of holy living. May we attend to the spokes in our spiritual lives and commit ourselves to keeping each of them strong.

Prayer: O Lord, help us to be faithful in our daily walk with you. Amen