Get Your Heart in the Right Place!

“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22

During my tenure in the US Navy, I had the honor of leading a team that drove a submarine. Normally, submarines run very silent in the oceans and try to remain undetected by other ships. You have probably heard the term, ‘Run Silent, Run Deep’. Other country’s ships and submarines often try to find and trail US submarines to get intelligence on the sounds they tend to make. Just like cars though, submarines have blind spots where they can’t see if another submarine is behind them. The blind spot is called the baffles. Submarines often clear their baffles by turning at enough of an angle to see in their baffles and ensure no one is behind the submarine. Russian submarines used to perform a maneuver to clear their baffles by turning around 180 degrees. This obviously was very dangerous as they would turn completely around and come back in the opposite direction. If another submarine was in their baffles, they now ran the risk of running directly into them. This maneuver was called the ‘Crazy Ivan’.

As Christian men, there are times in life when we get off track of what we are supposed to be doing. The world has many temptations and it is easy to lose focus on the path we should be following. The word of God gives us the direction and way we should be leading our lives, but none of us are perfect and we can easily slip up. Whether it’s money, technology, media, work, relationships, hobbies, ourselves, or other things, we often put our focus on these things and it causes us to lose focus on God’s word. Just like in the submarine story above, these things are in our baffles and we do not realize they are there. If we continue down this current path, these distractions and temptations can harm us or cause hurt to the people around us.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

If we find our lives getting out of hand, the temptations of the world leading us down wrong paths, or the distractions in this world getting the upper hand with us, it’s time for a new direction. We know the path we should be on so why don’t we get back on it? It is time to take drastic action and change our course. It is time for the ‘Crazy Ivan’. In the context of our lives, it is time to face what is in our baffles, turn 180 degrees around, and face head on our challenges. 

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24

Many things can cause us to veer off the path that Jesus wants us to stay on. Sometimes, it is hard to recognize we are not on track. Think of it this way, if a ship steers off course by only one degree, over a period of time, the ship gets really far off its intended path. Even tough it is not easy for us to always know we are off track, we usually hear from others or deep inside us we can feel that something just isn’t right. We know the answer to getting back to the righteous path. It is Jesus. Praying and getting our mind focused back on God are the first steps to getting that peace back in our life.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9