Steering by the Sacred
How God’s Word Provides Clarity for Living in an Age of Confusion
On April 13, 1970, there was an explosion. Roughly 200,000 miles from home—about halfway to the moon—an oxygen tank blew on Apollo 13. That moment kicked off one of the most gripping space and engineering sagas of all time.
Among the many challenges facing Lovell, Haise, Swigert, and Mission Control was the issue of navigation. Back then, spaceflight computers needed frequent calibration to stay accurate. The crew handled this by using the Optical Alignment Sight (OAS) to line up with key stars. But after the explosion, a cloud of debris surrounded the spacecraft, making it impossible to tell a shard from a star.
As Lovell later recalled:
“With all the debris and frozen particles around the spacecraft, it looked like a snowstorm outside. Every time I tried to take a star sighting, I couldn’t tell the difference between a real star and a flake of ice.” - Jim Lovell
Another Explosion
As people made in God’s image, every person is instilled with an inner sense of how to keep life on the good course. It’s called by different names and shows up in different forms—conscience, morality, ethics, virtues, character, principles. Paul bears witness to this when he says, “…the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness” (Rom. 2:15). Wherever we find ourselves in life, it’s this inner life that guides our thoughts, informs our decision-making, and steers our actions.
But there’s a problem.
Within the human heart, sin has gone off like an explosion. Genesis 3 gives the account of how the crisis began. Ever since, it’s become impossible for men and women to properly calibrate their lives and stay on the good course. Sin has created a shroud of debris in the soul, making it impossible to truly distinguish shard from star, death from life, evil from good.
To make it safely home, the crew of Apollo 13 needed to find a different waypoint. They needed something reliable—something so much larger and brighter than the frozen particles of water and metal surrounding their ship that there could be no confusion. The reference they chose to calibrate their journey home was the terminator line: the line between reflected sunlight and darkness on the face of planet Earth.
Living by the Light
Jesus is not just a historical figure. He’s not just a good person or a role model. He’s not merely a miracle worker, teacher, or religious leader. He is the light of the world (John 8:12). He provides both the way to salvation for those who believe and ongoing guidance for the journey of those who already do.
For believers, there’s a real temptation: we recalibrate the eternal course of our lives by trusting Jesus for salvation, yet drift back to our own clouded internal guidance system for everyday living—at home, at work, in our communities. We tend to assume the light of Jesus is mostly for salvation and Sundays, while Monday through Saturday are meant to be navigated by intuition. But God offers us something better.
As the Psalmist declared, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). And as Jesus clarified: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). Jesus, revealed in the Word of God, is the light for our path and provides all we need for life and godliness.
Sacred Markers
You may be responsible for steering a business. Or perhaps your family. Maybe even a church. Or, right now, the only thing you’re steering is your own life. Regardless of where the Lord has placed you, there are sacred markers revealed in the life of Jesus Christ that can guide our thoughts, words, actions, and decisions. I’ll be taking a deeper dive into these and others in the weeks ahead, but here are a few for you to consider as you walk with your family, invest in your workplace, and live in your community:
Joy. A steadfast affection of the soul, aroused by fixing our eyes on Jesus, which endures regardless of trial or tribulation.
Creativity. Using our God-given gifts to shape our God-given world.
Humility. Elevating God and others above self; a kind of self-forgetfulness.
Towardsness. Orienting our lives away from the self and toward God and others, living for their good.
Love. Being motivated by self-giving rather than self-receiving
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13