THREE DEGREES OFF

I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14

It had to be more than fifty years ago that I saw a full-blown picture in Life Magazine of an experimental rocket launched by our country with the intention of it reaching a certain point at a certain time. The picture was inspirational, an indication of things to come in our future. I don't believe NASA was even a reality at that point. but the future was looking good for our country where the space race was concerned. At least, that was the hope resting on that rocket as it soared through space.

A problem of some kind developed with that particular rocket. Oh, it didn't explode or crash into anything as I recall. There was one major problem through that caused the launching to be a complete failure. The rocket had not reached it's predetermined place of arrival, at least not quite to the exact designated goal. I was surprised to see that the rocket had missed it's goal by three degrees. That sure didn't sound like much to me for all of those project members to get so upset over. As I read further though, I found what I consider three degrees was not three degrees to those experts. You see, each degree to them amounted to hundreds of miles. For that rocket to miss it's destination by three degrees was astronomical, so to speak.

Perhaps we could think in terms of “three degrees” when it comes to one's spiritual walk. I've often wondered as I've considered three degrees (three D's) that should be large parts of own our spiritual guidance systems. I'm thinking of : DIRECTION, DEVOTION and DEDICATION.

Let's begin with Direction.

Direction has everything to do with the rocket itself. No rocket....no flight....no problem. There was a rocket and it had it's own destiny and that destiny was to leave the earth and arrive at a designated location far from the earth. That was it's job...it's only job. You and have obviously been born, made to be on this earth. The goal for every human being as far as God is concerned is that we eventually arrive in Heaven. If that “degree” is off, only death is the result. The answer is, while we are here, we are made and created for God. We have purpose, each one of us. Eventually the goal is to be with Him in Heaven, but He has to make available the equipment for this purpose. It is His Son, Jesus, who blesses us with salvation when we go to Him, repenting of our sin and accepting Him as Savior. It all begins with that relationship. Without that relationship, there is no point in even reading about the other two D's.

Taking for granted the Direction in our lives is taken care of, we move to Devotion.

Once that relationship is established with Jesus Christ, we need spiritual fuel to keep us going just as that space rocket required a very special fuel for lift off and soaring into space. You and I need regular fueling with the power found in God's Word. When we get low on fuel, we can malfunction in so many ways in every day living. When our prayer life is at low ebb, we become even more dysfunctional. This spiritual fueling process is often referred to as having a regular “quiet time.” Those times are important, but I'm not sure even they are enough for the spiritual strengthening we need in our day. I will interject that another D that might be appropriate here is that of “desire.” When we owe God so much (not that we can ever repay Him), there should be a sincere desire to spend time with Him in any number of ways.

Last of the degrees I would consider is number three....Dedication.

Once we are in a salvation relationship with Jesus and we are maintaining a fruitful devotional life that is alive and satisfying, we should consider ones Dedication to the spiritual activities the Lord makes available to us. The very basic of this dedication should be our faithfulness to God's house. There should never be a debate on a Sunday as to “are we going to church today?” For whatever the reasons, it shouldn't be a debate...it should be automatic that we attend both Sunday school and church. If there are other opportunities through Bible studies to be in study with others, we should do that as well. Then depending on our abilities and spiritual gifts, we should make ourselves available to be of service in our church however we can serve. If we take on a ministry (not a job) we should do it as unto the Lord, faithful to the task to the best of our ability.

Our first degree is vital, but the other two are very important as well. Failure in any of the three areas is going to throw us off target. Three degrees may not seem like much in the whole scope of things, but they are major....major to us, to others and to our Heavenly Father. In God's power, my prayer for each of us is that we do all in our power to stay spiritually on target. There's too much at stake for us to miss any target.

Dear Father, thank You so much for saving me and for loving me even when I disappoint you. Forgive me for not being as devoted and dedicated as I should be when I tend to go my own way. I want to be centered in You. Give me Your power in serving you more and better. Thank You for Jesus in Whose name I pray...Amen