Things You Do

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17 ESV). In his book, Dropping Your Guard, Charles R. Swindoll tells a story about a tragic airplane crash. It was Flight 401 bound for Miami from New York City with a load of holiday passengers. As the huge aircraft approached the Miami Airport for its landing, a light that indicates proper deployment of the landing gear failed to come on. The plane flew in a large, looping circle over the swamps of the Everglades while the cockpit crew checked out the light failure. Their question was this, had the landing gear actually not deployed or was it just the light bulb that was defective? To begin with, the flight engineer fiddled with the bulb. He tried to remove it, but it wouldn’t budge. Another member of the crew tried to help out...and then another. By and by, if you can believe it, all eyes were on the little light bulb that refused to be dislodged from its socket. No one noticed that the plane was losing altitude. Finally, it dropped right into a swamp. Many were killed in that plane crash. The problem was not that they were not experienced pilots. The problem was that they had forgotten their first responsibility. While they tried to fix a minor problem, they allowed a major one to develop. Ultimately it led to their destruction. When the Apostle John was instructed to write to the Church at Ephesus the warning we read in this morning’s Scripture verses, their problem was the same as Flight 401! They were so busy doing “stuff” they had left their “first love.” Having pastored local churches for over forty years, it is easy for me to look back and see how that may happen in a church today. While the pastor, staff, and leaders are busy fighting fires and focusing on relatively insignificant issues it is easy to lose sight of what church is supposed to be. The church may become so busy with activities, programs, projects, meetings, and such they may not be accomplishing anything of eternal significance. And, that danger exists in our individual lives as well. Our primary purpose must always be to show the world the truth about Jesus Christ, to lead them to an understanding of His grace and eternal life. Examine all the things you do today and measure them against your first responsibility. Maybe you need to forget about the light bulb that’s not working and just fly the plane!