Friday, October 17, 2014
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I was having a conversation with a young man who was a student in a Missionary Aviation course. Now, he had only had classroom training. He did have a little experience when he visited the flight training facility. On the second day they said, "Okay, go for it." He was flying! Now, he was carrying his notepad with him the day I saw him, and I noticed the sentence he had written at the top of his notes. It was obviously something he thought he would be tested on either in the classroom or maybe in the cockpit someday. Actually, it could be life-or-death information on a particular day. Here's what it said: "Attitude-the relationship of the known to the horizon." Now, he told me that simple discipline is what keeps an aircraft stable. Maybe you, too.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Horizon Fix."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 12:1-2. It's kind of an Olympic scene. The idea here is an Olympic runner. "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance..." We're talking stability, steadiness here, right? "...the race marked out for us." How do you do that? "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith." The One who was there when you started; the One who is going to be there at your finish line.
Now, this verse tells us which way our horizon is supposed to be. I asked my student friend to explain about the attitude and the horizon. He said, "Well, it's important to keep your aircraft on course and at a consistent rate of speed. If your attitude is pitching in a way that tilts you downward, your speed picks up. If you tilt in a way that points you upward, your speed slows down." He said, "The only way to keep things steady is to lock in on the horizon and keep adjusting your course in relation to the horizon." Wow! What a lesson in spiritual stability! In emotional stability!
See, if you navigate or make your decisions by your feelings, you're going to be all over the place. Maybe you have been. Your feelings lie to you so much of the time. If you navigate by the approval of other people you're going to be up and down all the time. Are you tired of the inconsistency, the roller coaster, the confusion? Well, then, adjust your attitude so it's lined up squarely with the horizon, and that's Jesus. "Looking to Jesus" it says.
What does that mean practically? It means there's only one way to launch your day-with a horizon check. You don't just fix your eyes on Jesus once and for all and say, "Got that done." You've got to do it each new day. So you get His book, His love letter – the Bible – in your lap each day. You say, "Jesus, talk to me through this." You read it. Then you apply it to something you're going to face that day. Then you talk to Him about what He's said to you. Then you get on your knees and you pray through your day and ask Him to help you see each person through His eyes, each situation through His eyes, each conversation, each decision you need to deal with, each task. You consciously make it His day before you live it.
Then as the storm's blowing you around during that day, the clouds roll in and your feelings are all over the place, don't make the mistake that Peter did when he was walking on the water. Remember? He was looking at Jesus and he walked on water miraculously. Then he started to look at the storm. He looked away from Jesus and he started to sink.
As long as you're focused on Jesus and not on your feelings, not your environment, you're not going to sink. Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You." So, how's your attitude? Is it going up, going down, or going all over the place? Well, it's because probably you're not focused on the right place.
My student pilot friend said, "You have to focus on the horizon, because it is the only thing that never moves." Well, I only know one horizon that never moves. Jesus Christ of whom the Bible says, "He is the same yesterday, today and forever."