Course Corrections

February 15, 2008

By Jerry Scott

A couple I know recently turned a 45-minute trip into a three-hour journey! How? They missed just one turn and, because they were in an unfamiliar area, did not realize their mistake. If my friends had consulted a map, they would have spared themselves a long detour.

Years ago, when I was a student pilot, I set off on a flight on a bright sunny day and about an hour later realized I was far from the course I had planned to fly. My airplane was pointed in the right direction, but because I was a rookie I was not aware of the cross winds’ major effect on my true course. If I had kept my flight charts open and checked them, I would have quickly known about those winds. It is possible to think you’re making great progress while traveling in the wrong direction!

Periodically we need to ask ourselves some hard questions to make certain that we are on course in life. Perhaps you think you’re going in the right direction because you feel good, have fun, and are self-satisfied. The truth is that you need a way to evaluate your life using a guide outside of yourself. The wisdom of Scripture, the counsel of mature believers, the guidance of the Spirit, and the practice of regular corporate worship all offer powerful direction for your life.

Consider these questions:

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?

I urge you to spend some time prayerfully reflecting on your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of those choices you’re making that need to be brought into line with the purposes of God.

Perhaps you have made a wrong turn. If you’re tolerating something you know is not pleasing to God, determine today to change course. Don’t wait until you’re far from the Way! We all deal with life’s crosswinds. Temptations threaten to blow us off course. Illness, job loss, political change, and other factors beyond our control bring storms that affect our progress. But if we are guided by the Spirit, they will not take us from God’s purposes!

God asks His people to evaluate their lives. Let these ancient words speak to you today.

“Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways!

You have sown much, and bring in little;

You eat, but do not have enough;

You drink, but you are not filled with drink;

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;

And he who earns wages,

Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’

Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways!

Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,’ says the Lord” (Haggai 1:5-8, NKJV).

I pray God’s Purposes will become your purposes. Your life will never drift off course as long as you are following your Heavenly Father.

— Jerry D. Scott is senior pastor at Washington (N.J.) Assembly of God.