LightGrams
November 7, 2019
Volume 23, Number 35
Others may see it as a novel venue for hosting a party, but it strikes me as sad. The Fokker-100 airplane parked in Robert Sedlar’s’ yard in Croatia was built to carry 100 passengers to various destinations around the world. After being in service from 1991 to 2014, it was finally retired. Sedlar bought it for an undisclosed price.
Why make such a purchase? Sedlar has visions of renting out the airplane, but in very different ways from its original intended use. This plane will never fly again, but will instead be home to weddings, parties, and all kinds of activities. Just don’t buy a ticket thinking that you’ll end up hundreds or thousands of miles from where you boarded. That’s just not going to happen.
“Grounded” is a term that would apply to this Dutch jet. That is a term airline passengers never want to hear; it means that their trip has been suspended due to weather conditions or equipment malfunction. It’s also a term children cringe to hear, for it means their usual freedoms have come to a halt as a form of discipline.
Human lives could be compared to airplanes. We were designed by God for great things; you might say we were made to soar at high altitudes. Along the way, however, we encountered turbulence in the form of sin. Like barnacles that grip the undersides of ships, making it difficult for them to sail, sin slows us down, eventually grounding us.
On inspired writer gives this advice: “… let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). We can’t possibly endure our journey if we do nothing to remove the encumbrances of sin. We’ll find ourselves grounded, never to fly again.
“This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise,” God said of Israel in Isaiah 43:21. Look what happened instead: “But you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities” (Isaiah 43:24). Sin will clip our wings, and we’ll never attain the heights we could have known had we followed God’s plan.
In Christ that weight of sin can be lifted so that we again can fly. Peter gives us a vision of what is possible: “But you are a chosen generation, a holy nation, His own special people … who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9,10).
Rediscover your potential with God. Though you are now grounded by sin, you “shall mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31). You will realize the promise of Ephesians 3:20: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us …” With God’s help we’ll fly!
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
~~~~~
Copyright, 2019, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “[email protected]” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
Permission to reproduce and/or use the messages for noncommercial purposes is freely granted provided the messages are not altered.