Mental disorientation, or more technically, spatial disorientation is when a pilot is flying a plane upside down and doesn’t know it. In fact many theorize that that is what happened to JFK Jr when he died along with his wife in a plane crash off the east coast. It’s hard for me to fathom someone who is an experienced pilot could actually be flying upside down and not know it. But as I read more about this syndrome, I have found it to be quit common among pilots. Just recently an experienced Air force pilot crashed his F15 fighter plane and died as a result of spatial disorientation. He was flying upside down and didn’t realize it, when he pulled back on the stick to go up, he actually went down causing him to crash and die. The saddest part of this is his instruments were telling him that he was flying upside down. But he choose to ignore them. He was convinced that his senses were more accurate than his instruments.
Sometimes I think we as Christians are doing the same thing. We think we’re living right side up with Christ, and everything is hunky-dorie, even after the instrument of God’s word is trying to warn us that were flying upside down. Then all of a sudden we try to pull up out of a situation, and we actually do the opposite and crash and burn. All because we were flying upside down instead of right side up, and didn’t know it.
God’s word only knows and has one direction to fly. That is and always will be… right side up! If we’re going through the motions or doing what Paul warned Timothy about with some of his parishioners ” holding a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” then when we try to pull up out of the atmosphere of this world’s influence, we seem to dive straight into the ground. Jesus explained this to us in Mark 4 in the parable of the sower. He describes four different mental orientations primarily produced by the condition of soil the seed had been planted in.
So, to all of us. Make sure we’re not disorientated from our kingdom purpose. And that purpose is to bring life “Jesus-style” back to its original orientation. Fly right side up again. Know your settings, pay attention to your instruments and let God’s Word and His Spirit, in our lives, once more SOAR and….CHARGE!!!!