I listened
to a podcast by Rev. Jim Hollis[1] the
other day that talked about how the priorities of aviation can share the
priorities of that of ministry. The
priorities of aviation are simply to
- Aviate (properly fly the plane), then to
- Navigate (determine how to get to your destination and get there), and after those two priorities have been met then we can
- Communicate (radio others about what is happening out here).
The first priority is the one I am most concerned with right now. The first priority of properly flying a plane
before anything else does help me to take stock of my own spiritual
position.
Am I
really a Christian?
I actually
ask myself this question quite often as I know that I have a terrible tendency to get distracted. For example, when I go to clean up the
clutter on my office desk I discover that a couple hours have gone by before I notice that I am on a totally different expedition. Then there is when I intend to quickly run into the store for a
simple gallon of milk but I bump into Carl, whom I have not seen since High
School, and got chatting so long that the milk I am holding has gotten warm and
is likely curdled. And now that I have children I am always realizing that I forgot to finish this project or that. And I don’t believe that I am alone in the distraction
department, I think everyone is like this in some form or fashion. Why else would an aviator have to learn these
three priorities and remember them all the days of their flying lives?
My faith then, whether or not I am a
Christian, must be determined by some sort of immovable objective since if left
up to me would be determined on my never really rational and often distracted attention. So what is
that immovable determinate? What is it that
I can use to judge my belief in salvation and personal spirituality? I use a statistical impossibility. I use the impossible words of the Apostle
Paul found in 2 Corinthians 15.
“But
Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have
fallen asleep.”
1 Corinthians
15:20
The
Apostle Paul claims that it is only in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that any
of us has hope for eternal life. That
is because Jesus died on the cross as the proper human payment for sin and we receive
grace and are redeemed by Him. His
resurrection from the dead is the proof that He is the Messiah who fixed the
sin of Adam. But, Paul states:
“If
only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be
pitied.”
1 Cor. 15:19
My read of
it sound like this.
‘If I am a
Christian, I am because I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my
sins. Then He rose back to life on the
third day triumphantly over sin and death.
But if Jesus did not rise back to life from the dead then I am an idiot
who is to be pitied more than all people because I was duped.’
And so it is that I judge myself according to
the immovable fact of the resurrection of Jesus – and nothing else. I don’t ask myself if I was a good boy this
past week, I don’t ask myself if I was obedient enough this past week, and I
don’t even consider if I was favored by God because I was so squeaky clean and did all the right things because my faith is only in Jesus and what HE did.
Justification isn't about me at all.
Did Jesus
rise from the grave? Is Jesus alive, now, today? Did Jesus, without my input from the likes of
me, redeem humanity from the perils of sin and death?
While some
may argue that this sort questioning is too simple to determine one's faith but I beg to
differ. I suggest that this is the sort
of faith the Apostle Paul had when he said that he has chosen to know nothing
but Christ, and Him crucified.
So I like Hollis’
first priority of aviation as a first priority for the Christian life. Is my faith solid? Is my plane even in the air? Is it straight
and level? As I assess myself against
the priority of the resurrection I must agree that I am solidly in the
air. And now that I am floating along on
my way I need to get to the next priority of aviation and that is
navigation.
But that
will have to wait until next week.
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