In 1986, “Top Gun” was a blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise. It was the highest grossing movie that year. The story was about an F-14 Tomcat fighter crew who progress through the Navy’s Top Gun school. The school teaches advance fighter tactics to the Navy’s elite fighter pilots.
Soon after the movie, I was in a training course which featured one of the real instructors of the Top Gun school. This pilot was the one who took Tom Cruise up and, through numerous maneuvers, made Tom lose his breakfast. Tom told him to never tell about it and, of course, the instructor proceeded to tell everyone.
This instructor also told of an experiment he conducts with pilots and other passengers he takes in the air. He asks them to close their eyes while he maneuvers the plane. Then he asks them to tell him when they think the plane is flying horizontal to the earth. When the passenger so indicates, the instructor asks them to open their eyes and look up. According to the instructor, almost every time they are actually flying upside down! Looking up when it is actually down is a sure way to upset your stomach!
Flying according to your feelings can be deadly. Pilots must be trained to trust their instruments when their vision is impaired. Similarly, living by your feelings can be deadly. Many folks have trouble believing the scriptures because they don’t make sense to them. For example, why enter the waters of baptism when you simply get wet? Or, why assemble with other Christians on Sunday when we could be out enjoying nature? Didn’t God create all these things for our use and enjoyment?
In order to follow God you must trust His Word. We must stop substituting human wisdom for the wisdom of God. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being save it is the power of God.” We need to learn God’s Word and follow it lest we fly headlong into eternity upside down!
For the elders, Dave Benner