“GETTING OUR BEARINGS”
It is a scary thing to realize that you are lost. Whether in the woods or on the streets of a city, finding out that you do not know where you are brings trepidation to our minds. Under such circumstances we could ask strangers to find information that would give us our location. We might even try to find a map to help us find out where we are. The fears can be calmed down somewhat if we see an object that helps us to get our bearings. Perhaps it is a building, or a monument, a mountain, road or stream. Once we find that object we can begin to find our way.
Our spiritual life needs bearings that help us to stay on the right road or path. We know that within man is not the knowledge that he needs to survive spiritually and thus he must have help from outside his own world (Jeremiah 10:23). Jesus, the grace of God, which appeared to us, taught us about life and how to live it (Titus 2:11). The teaching that the Grace of God gave us instructed us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (verse 12). This education was not only to deny but it was also to instruct us to live soberly, godly and righteously in this present world.
When the soul of man comes face to face with the evidence, the choices are reduced. If Jesus is God, then we must obey Him. If Jesus is not God, then He was just a good man among other good men. The choices are therefore reduced. If one concludes, based on the evidence, that Jesus is not God, he may find many choices out there to regulate his life. Such an attitude brings us back to the idea that men then will do what is right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25). In the end then the choices are still reduced. If one does not believe that Jesus is God then he does whatever he thinks is right.
Communism has long taught that what is moral or right is whatever you do to promote Communism whether it is lying, stealing or killing. If the act promotes Communism it is morally right. Should you meet such an individual or come in contact with his doctrine, you may answer, “that is wrong!” On what basis would you conclude that he is wrong since every man does what is right, “…in his own eyes”. Would we argue that if harm comes to someone else then the doctrine becomes suspect? Yet in this country at the hands of physicians, 1,000,000 babies a year are killed inside the mother’s womb. The laws of our land say such slaughter is right. Should you meet such a doctor, would you tell him he is wrong? On what basis would you make such an argument if every man does that which is “…right in his own eyes”?
This brings us back to the greatest of choices. Jesus is God. Once we accept that truth we indeed have the bearings for our life. If at times we wrestle with doubts about our life and the direction we are headed in, then we just refocus our view back to the Christ who loved us. This refocusing requires a repentant heart that acknowledges the wrong direction and manifest itself by a return to the right direction. It is a constant looking unto Jesus, the author of and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). It was the joy that was set before Him which gave Him the strength to endure the cross. So it is with us that when we lose our way we must look once more to Jesus and chart our course back to the right way.
The church at Laodicea had lost its way. Part of the problem was their perception of themselves without a consideration of how God viewed them (Revelation 3:17). Here was the solution to the problem of being lukewarm. They were to “…anoint their eyes with eye salve, in order that they may see (verse 18). The city of Laodicea was known for an eye medicine which they had found and produced in that city. Jesus took then the physical thing which they were aware of and used it to establish the spiritual truth. Their vision of the Lord was clouded by the disease of being lukewarm. The solution was to first of all clear up their eye sight. They had to get their bearings once more. If one looks at the first part of the verse it required them to buy gold of the Lord and change their garments.
It is so vital to get our bearings. If however we get our bearings and refuse to walk in the direction of those bearings, then we will remain lost. Too many in life never find their way because their eyes are always on this world and never on the Lord.