Comparing Against the Standard
by Bob Dawson
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 1, March 1996
Several men speaking at Annandale (Virginia) have recently made a point in their lessons, warning against straying from the truth, as revealed in God’s word, in our worship of Him. They pointed out that even though we start out following the truth in our worship, there are those who, for many and varied reasons, turn from the truth to error. Their warnings caused me to think about a potential problem I am familiar with from my area of work.
I have worked with the Tomahawk cruise missile for a number of years. You may be familiar with the Tomahawk from its use in Iraq and, more recently, Bosnia, where it proved to be very accurate. The Tomahawk navigates to its target with the aid of an inertial guidance system. The inertial system uses accelerometers to measure accelerations in three planes, which are integrated over time to provide information on velocity and distance.
When the missile is launched, it "knows" where it is starting from and where it wants to go - the target. The missile guidance system contains a computer with a program installed ־ the mission - that guides the missile along the route to the target using information provided by the inertial system based on sensed accelerations. If the missile encounters a gust of wind, it senses the gust and makes a correction in its course to get back on track to the target.
But inertial guidance sets have a characteristic, known as drift, that will cause them to deviate from the planned course. The drift rate may be low, but over a long time the error builds to the point that the missile can completely miss its intended target and become ineffective. It might not only miss its intended target but instead hit some place you would definitely not want to hit; a hospital, for example.
The Tomahawk is so accurate because it doesn’t rely solely on its inertial guidance but periodically checks its location against a standard (terrain features or a Global Positioning System constellation), compares the two, and makes the correction necessary to get back on the right course and ultimately to the target.
In a sense, Christians are like the cruise missile. We know where we start from - fundamental beliefs of a need for salvation and the risen Christ as our Savior. And we know our target - Heaven. However, over time, we too can drift off course to the extent that we will miss our target. The drift rate from the true course may be very low, imperceptibly so. If someone were to suggest that we "not partake of the Lord’s Supper" on the first day of the week, for example, we would immediately know this is not the correct course (like the cruise missile sensing a gust of wind) and would not incorporate that into our worship and service to God. However, a number of small errors, each seemingly insignificant, over time will have the same effect in taking us off course and resulting in our missing our target.
Christians, like the cruise missile, must continually compare our position and course against a standard—the Bible (II Timothy 3:16-17). This checking where we are and where we are heading against God’s standard (II Timothy 2:15) will ensure we hit our target.
We can’t rely on our "feelings" that we are still on the correct course (The cruise missile inertial system always "thinks" it is exactly where it is supposed to be and right on course based on its internal information).
The Lord says in Jeremiah that "it is not in man that walks to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). The apostle Paul said "I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this, but He who judges me is the Lord" (I Corinthians 4:4). Only by comparing our lives and worship to God against the standard given to us in His word can we be sure that we have not drifted off course and that we will not miss our target.
