“A good man out of the good treasure of
the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things.” – Matthew 12:35
Maybe it’s just me, but, you know
that split second, when you’re boarding a plane, where you get to that tiny glimpse
into the cockpit? Typically the
stewardess is guarding it like a bouncer, and you have to look like you looking
right at her, it probably makes her feel super awkward; anyway, I don’t care, I
love those few precious seconds where we get to see into the “control
room”. The buttons, gauges, levers,
blinking lights; all of it, the inter-working of those big jets is mind-blowing and inspiring. It is amazing how one man can sit behind all
of that and make this 300 ton hunk of metal fly. It seems impossible, it looks impossible, but
nevertheless, within that tiny little room lies all the necessary equipment to
fly a plane. That is the control room,
and it is for the captain.
The devil would have us believe that
the idea of living free from sin would seem as impossible as flying a
plane. Now, if you marched the common
man down to an airport and sat him in the control room of a big 747 and said
“ok, fly this thing.” That would be
impossible. There is no way a man with
no flight experience could successfully fly that air plane. It would be catastrophe. It is the same in the spiritual world. The control room of a person is the
heart. The scripture bears that
out. When you think about living free
from sin in terms of YOU doing it, then yes it is impossible. There is no way a man can live his whole life
without willfully and knowingly breaking a personally known law of God. He will lie, he will curse, he will do all
sorts of terrible selfish things; why?
Simply because he is not the Captain.
He (or she) is nowhere near qualified enough to control their own
life. We cannot fly the plane. We are unfit, unworthy, incapable. It is better you accept this now, the sooner
the better. Pretty much every mainline
Christian church teaches that we are unfit to fly the plane. We have sin in our life, we have sin in our heart,
and we are unworthy. It is good that
this is taught, we all need to understand we are lost before we can be
saved. However, I would like to submit
for consideration the nature of how God can save us. He does not save you in your sins, he saves
you from your sins. He wants to clean
house, he wants to get into the control room, but he cannot do so unless you
invite him in. Jesus is not anything but
the Captain. He is the pilot. He is NOT the co-pilot; he is not the: traffic
control, damage control, or passenger.
He is the pilot. You cannot fly
the plane, you need Jesus. I could not
fly the plane, no matter how much I wanted to; I wanted to look in, I wanted to
be in the Captain’s chair, but I was unqualified; Jesus is the Captain; he is
the pilot.
When you finally realize this, when
you finally realize you are unfit, you are a sinner; you must repent. You must tell God you are sorry for doing
something you never should have been doing in the first place; confess and turn
away, repent. If you confess, God will
forgive. Once you repent, then you have
to give up the chair. This is hard for
people; because it takes a measure of faith.
Thankfully, you have been given a measure of faith. You have to let go; let go of the controls,
let Jesus come into your heart and take control. When you do, he will lift you into the air
and take your life to heights you never thought possible. It may not look that way to the world. You may lose your house, your job, your
friends (you may not); no matter, you will find what need. You will find: joy, peace, love, contentment,
fellowship, belonging; we are trained to think that money is the answer. It is not.
Jesus is the answer. When you let
the Captain take control and sanctify your heart; he will guide your life, and
keep you free from sin. Does he not have
the power? The Captain will take you away
from a lot of bad things and he will guide you into all good things. “He
that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake
shall find it.” – Matthew 10: 39
