To Guide Our Way

On August 3, 1492, three ships departed the Port of Palos in southern Spain, headed westerly.  In command of the voyage was a captain well-trained in deduced (ded) reckoning navigation, in which course is charted by magnetic compass and distance is measured by time and speed (speed being measured by a floating object alongside the ship length).  The intended course was westward: to the West Indies and the riches of Asia.

However, the ACTUAL course was west-southwest (WSW), almost certainly due to the fact that magnetic compasses do not display true direction, but rather magnetic direction.  The captain’s compass was displaying a westerly course, when in fact it was distorted by imperfections in the Earth’s magnetic field.  Rather than sailing at a constant latitude as the captain assumed, the party deviated southward into the Caribbean islands of New World (naming the inhabitants “Indians”).

This fleet was led, of course, by Christopher Columbus.  Much like the voyage of the Mayflower with the Pilgrims (which ended far north of the Virginia Territory), this voyage went off-track.

By employing celestial navigation, latitude can be determined with accuracy and reliability.  The angle of inclination of the Northern Star (Polaris) can be used to determine the latitude of a vessel at sea or a wandering herd of sheep in the Arabian desert.  Unfortunately, neither the Spanish fleet nor the Mayflower took proper advantage of the Northern Star.

To follow the proper course, one needs the proper guide.  The Guide is readily available, but all too often we turn to other means to set our course, with regrettable consequences.

Although each of us has chosen the wrong course and sinned in God’s sight (Romans 3:23), God gave His only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins (Ephesians 1:7) and to guide us back to Him and into heaven.  Jesus said,

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
– John 14:6

To follow the Guide to salvation and eternal life, we must: place our  faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins and wrong directions in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, we must continue to follow the Guide as a way of life (1 John 1:7).

Navigating our way apart from Christ is certainly “dead” reckoning, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). 

But JESUS is the Guide that leads us to salvation and Eternal Life!

Won’t YOU follow Him?

-- Terry Livingston and David A. Sargent

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695