Where Does Your Compass Point?

I’m not a big Pirates of the Caribbean movie fan. I liked the first one, hated the second one, and tolerated the third. Now with rumors of Johnny Depp signing up for a reprisal of his Captain Jack Sparrow character, I’m dreading the fourth installment of a Pirates movie. However, even though I don’t really like the movies, I’ve always been fascinated with Captain Jack’s compass.

Throughout the first movie Captain Jack is chastised because his compass doesn’t work. It never points North. Instead it spins around and goes in different directions. But never North. However, even though the compass never points North, Captain Jack always ends up where he wants to go. By the second movie we discover the secret of the malfunctioning compass. The compass may never point North, but it does point to something more important.

Captain Jack’s compass points “toward what the heart wants.”

Searching For Direction

Many today are searching for direction in life. A quick scan of the landscape can result in worried hearts and troubled spirits. The economy is sliding, the job market is declining, and the government appears to be in shambles. Bankruptcies are at an all time high, and now many business are lining up for government bailouts. Everyone wants a handout.

Then on top of the economic mess, everyone seems to have an opinion on just about everything. Spin doctors are a dime a dozen and they all declare they have the answers to all our problems. The left say they have the answers. The right say they have the answers. Those in the church even declare they have the answers. In this sea of voices and endless noise, it’s sometimes very hard to decipher which is the correct answer. How do we truly discern what is true and what is false?

My good friend Ken Davis recently wrote a post on his Lite Post – A Seriously Funny Guy blog entitled Just Do It. While Ken talked about committing to doing something and then following through, I was reminded of the importance of focus. As life seems to swirl out of control it’s important to check our bearings. Take a look at our compass and make sure we’re still heading in the direction we should be heading. We need to make sure we’re still heading toward what not only our heart wants, but where our heart should be yearning.

Hearing Through The Noise

People are searching for hope these days. I addressed this search in an earlier post entitled Write It Down & Make It Clear. In that post I encouraged us all to remember the words of Jeremiah who said “God’s plans are not to harm us, but to prosper us, giving us hope for the future.” Those are wonderful words. But, what do we need to do in order to make sure our compass is leading us in the right direction, toward that hope? It’s easy to turn to various commentaries on the Bible, and even the words of man, to discover how we should navigate through this world. However, many times the books and voices do little more than add to the noise of the culture.

With this in mind, where do we turn?

How about the few verses ahead of the wonderful promise of hope found in Jeremiah 29. It’s here we discover some very practical suggestions of how to make sure we’re heading in the right direction. The people of Jerusalem found themselves in the midst of turmoil exiled in Babylon. Far from home, when it looked like the odds were totally stacked against them, they were encouraged to do some very practical things.

• Build houses and settle down
• Plant gardens and eat what they produce
• Marry and have sons and daughters
• Find wives for the sons and give daughters in marriage
• Increase in number, do not decrease

They also received some spiritual suggestions, to ensure their compass was pointing at their hearts desire.

• Seek the peace and prosperity of the city you live in
• Pray for peace and prosperity because if the city, and nation, in which you live prospers, so will you
• Do not listen to the spin-doctors who spin lies for they do not know what they are talking about

Many of the spin doctors of the day are proclaiming doom and gloom. The so-called people in the know declaring doom and gloom are found both inside and outside the church. As we attempt to stay the course in the days ahead, we need to make sure we’re not listening to the doom and gloom spin-doctors. If we truly want to walk in hope, we need to stay clear of those who spin their lies saying all is doom and gloom.

As we stay the course moving forward with “Hope for the Future” we will do well to seek peace and prosperity for the city, and nation in which we live. As the city and nation prospers, so too will we.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus