One sunny afternoon in 1972, while I was a student pilot, I set off on a solo flight to an airport 140 miles away. About a half hour into my flight, a visual check of details on the ground compared to my maps showed that I was off course. I was flying over an urban area that was not supposed to be on the flight path. Why, I wondered, since I had been flying with my little Cessna on the right compass heading?
My inexperience made me miss the strengthening winds that were pushing the airplane south of my true course. Unseen winds blew me miles off course in very short time! I learned a life lesson that summer day. Check your charts, use your radios, take nothing for granted.
Today we are just a couple of days from the calendar flip to 2015. This marker in time provides a reminder to us that we need to check the charts, do evaluations, and measure progress. Today or tomorrow, ask questions about your health, your spiritual growth, your financial state, your personal relationships. Yes, sit down, alone, prayerfully, thoughtfully, and do a real progress report. Be sure to use ALL the resources available. You might say, “Well, Jerry, I have never been happier in my life, so I must be doing well.” I am all for happy, but that is not a sufficient measure. Or perhaps you could say, “I made more money this year than I have made previously and my debts are cleared.” Bravo! Good stewardship and hard work are commendable but that’s not all you need either.
God told His people who had let themselves fall far from their holy calling that He had not forgotten or forsaken them. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13, NIV) Christians are only ‘on course’ when they know the plan and live it.
We live for a destination that is beyond the horizon of time. Hebrews 11 speaks of living here on earth as strangers while longing for a country, a heavenly one! If we hope to stay on course, we need to keep the hope in the forefront of our mind. So many winds can carry us from our true course. That is why we have the Spirit living in us to guide us. He counsels us, speaking softly but urgently to us. God has also given us the wisdom of the Scripture where we see His nature revealed and learn from the examples, good and bad, of those who went before us. He also calls us into His Body, the Church, where those who love us and journey with us keep us from deadly drift into error or self-absorption.
What we must never forget is that the BEST LIFE we can live NOW is guided by the hope of Heaven on the horizon and submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ today. There a powerful but subtle temptation that insists that we can only be satisfied if we are doing our own thing, satisfying every whim and desire that comes our way. Those who choose to live that way will find themselves “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind...” (Eph 4:14).
"Am I making the choices God wants me to make or following my own desires?
Am I consistently doing what is right or taking the easy way of expedience?
Am I intentionally growing in character or drifting with the crowd and the current?"
Everyone of us, even those who make good God-honoring decisions from day to day, will deal with crosswinds. Temptations threaten to blow us off course. Factors beyond our control will bring storms that can blow us far from our intended destination in life if we’re just drifting along. If we are guided by the Spirit, they will not take us from His purposes!
The Spirit's counsel is a sobering thought: "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ... how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3, NIV)
Here's a word from the Word. There is wonderful promise for those who are steady, eyes fixed on the Lord. Let these ancient words speak to you today.
"You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.
That’s right-you don’t go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set;
Then I’d never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel.
I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;
I learn the pattern of your righteous ways. "
(Psalm 119:1-7, The Message)
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Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy pow'rful hand.
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,
Feed me now and ever more,
Feed me now and ever more.
Open Thou the crystal fountain
Whence the healing stream doth flow.
Let the fiery cloudy pillar,
Lead me all my journey through!
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my strength and shield,
Be Thou still my strength and shield.
John Hughes | Peter Williams | William Williams
© Words: Public Domain
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