This is the fourth in a series of blogs on Truth as a part of the Armor of God. The first truth was presented in a previous blog.
The second truth is found in Colossians 3:2, “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” After telling us to aim at Jesus Christ in verse one it may appear that Paul repeated himself in verse two. However, the phase “think about” can also be translated "be intent on”. This has the idea of holding or keeping your thoughts fixed on an object. Paul did not repeat himself here. Rather, he exhorted us to keep our focus on Jesus Christ once we have started receiving His direction.
Once the automatic landing system found the landing signals sent from the aircraft carrier, it would "lock onto" these signals and begin landing the airplane. These signals gave direction to the computer so it could make corrections necessary to keep the airplane on a safe approach. If a gust of wind, or other disturbance, pushed the airplane off course, the automatic landing system would quickly bring it back on course. In the same way we must lock onto or be intent on the direction that Jesus Christ is giving us.
Often people will accept Jesus Christ as their savior, but it isn't until sometime later that they make Him their Lord, if they even do that. This is a lot like finding the aircraft carrier and then turning off the automatic landing system. When we get distracted there isn't much there to help us stay on course. The world will use many different kinds of events and emotions to try and blow us off God's course. Just like a gust of wind blows an airplane off its course. But, if we are intent on God's direction, He will quickly put us back on His course.
It is easy to become distracted in our relationship with Christ. The pleasures of this world seem to have so many things to offer us. When I tried to land the simulator by myself, I was distracted by the many instruments in the cockpit. I spent too much time looking at the instruments, and not enough time looking out the window to see where the ship was. At first, I only went off course a small amount. But as I provided improper corrections, the airplane drifted farther and farther from its intended path. I was not locked onto the ship, and as a result I eventually crashed. How often have we said to ourselves when we do what we know is wrong, "Oh, it won't matter this time. It’s just a little thing." The problem is we keep doing it, and eventually it turns into something very big. We need to be locked onto Jesus Christ and continually get corrections from Him to come back to and stay on His course.
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All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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