True North

When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe, was a university student, he lived in a boarding house. An elderly, retired music teacher, infirm and unable to leave the apartment, resided on the first floor. Douglas and the man had a ritual for the morning. He would come down the steps, open the old man’s door, and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, THAT is middle C!” The old man had discovered one thing upon which he could depend, one constant reality in his life, one “still point in a turning world.” (The Trivialization of God, NavPress, 1995, D. McCollough)

What is the anchor in your life?  To borrow another metaphor, what serves as your true North?  I am thankful for the GPS device that guides me through unfamiliar areas, that aids me in finding my way, but long before that technology arrived ships sailed featureless seas navigating by the stars. The heavenly lights are fixed points from which the navigator could find his position.  Do you have a guide for life, a standard by which you measure all things?

Long ago, I responded to God’s invitation to faith in Christ Jesus. He is my “way, Truth, and life.”  In Him I find healing for my soul, purpose for today, and assurance of life eternal.  Wealth can be lost. Health will fail. Pleasure slips away.  But,  Jesus is the same “yesterday, today, and forever!”    Knowing Him in this way does not mean that I no longer grow or that I have arrived at perfection.   With Paul, I say, “I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.”  (Philippians 3:12-14, The Message)

Expressions of faith will change with time.  In just my brief lifetime, I have observed trends come and go, ideas ever changing among the people of God. But the cross of Christ remains the place of transformation, the Resurrection of Christ the reason for hope.  Worship forms will change.  The culture into which Christ speaks will change.  But, He remains immutable!

Here is our word from the Word.  May the Spirit make the Lord of which it speaks your Rock of Ages. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:15-20, NIV)

Take 3 minutes and listen to Dr. S. M. Lockridge tell about his King.  “That’s My King”  will leave you in tears, wanting to cheer, and ready to walk with your King!