Calibrated on Christ

The Christian life is all about following Jesus.  We are called to abide in Christ, even as a branch is connected to the vine.  I don't know if you've ever tried following someone while driving, but its very hard to follow people when you can't see them.  When I worked in construction as an apprentice, I would meet at the shop and follow the journeymen out to the job.  Sometimes I wondered if the mechanic was intentionally trying to lose me in traffic!  Once visual contact was lost, following became impossible.

The good thing about following Christ is He will never try to ditch us.  While the world is constantly changing at a frenetic pace, Jesus remains stable, true, and trustworthy.  When we call out to Christ for aid, He does not hide from our sight, laughing to Himself about our predicament.  He doesn't try to avoid us because we've offended Him by our foolishness.  When we pray to the Father, Jesus isn't like someone who receives a call on their mobile, looks at the number and says out loud, "I'll just let that one go to voice mail."  The problem we face as disciples is not of Jesus being unreliable or forgetful, but how often we are distracted and therefore lose sight of Christ.  Our problems can appear so big, impossible, and beyond sorting out that all our focus is on the perceived problem or ourselves - and not look upon Christ alone.

Recently during a Bible study, our group looked at Psalm 73.  Asaph writes as a man who is disillusioned by the apparent prosperity of the wicked.  In modern vernacular he fumes, "Here is a man who blasphemes God, but he prospers while I struggle.  Why bother living for God when the wicked seem better off in this world?"  The psalmist was filled with pain as he thought about it.  But verse 17 is when he had an epiphany:  Psalm 73:17-19 reads, "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. ¹⁸ Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. ¹⁹ Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors."  It was not until Asaph entered the sanctuary, until he entered into God's presence, that he saw things clearly.  God gave him clarity and understanding he didn't comprehend before.  While away from the presence of God and focusing on externals, Asaph had missed the point.  It was in the presence of God that he realised his focus was wrong.  He concludes in Psalm 73:25-26:  "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."  The struggles God's people endure in this life cannot be compared with the joyful glory that is ours eternally in Christ.  The wicked may seem to prosper now, but those who reject Jesus Christ as LORD and Saviour will receive their eternal wages for sin paid in full:  death and everlasting torment.

Isn't it true that when we fix our eyes upon Christ, our perspective changes for good?  When I used to play video games on the computer which required a joystick, it was imperative the joystick be calibrated.  If when the game was booting up the joystick wasn't in the centered position, the controls would be off.  Instead of flying level the plane would always be banking hard to the left, or the car would incessantly steer to the right.  But once the joystick was properly calibrated, the player faced forward properly.  How important it is for our lives to properly calibrated to focus upon Christ!  When we focus on the things of this world, our own deficiencies or struggles, or anything other than Christ, we end up losing sight of Him.  If our calibration is off, we think we are heading right but we are heading down!  Once we do lose sight of Christ through being caught up in a stressful day or in a moment of foolishness, it is critical we learn to focus immediately upon Him again.  We do this through repentance, prayer, feeding on the Word of God, and fellowship with other believers in Christ.  Jesus is even now at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us (Heb. 7:25).  If we lose sight of Him it's not because Jesus has abandoned us:  it's because we've taken our eyes off Him and onto something else.  We need to be properly calibrated!

When your day begins, ends, and at all points in between, let us ensure we are properly calibrated with our eyes fixed on Christ.  Even as the sights on a firearm must be lined up properly to hit the target, we must be properly calibrated to be effective in our walk and witness.  We must train our gaze upon Jesus with sniper-like precision.  No matter how big the waves or how wild the winds, even if we begin to sink as Peter on the storm-swept Galilee, let us look to Jesus.  He is the only One who can save us!