Setting Your Compass

Any time you set out on an adventure you need to pack necessities. You’ll need quality gear, good socks and pair of sturdy shoes. You’ll also need a compass. A compass is important because it keeps you headed in the right direction. And if you get lost, turned around or confused, it can help you get back on the trail, headed in the right direction.

But as important as a compass is, it’s not precise. Because the direction of the compass is based upon the magnetic position of the North Pole, which shifts and moves, the compass shifts and moved, following the movement of the pole. While you may be headed northward, you are not always heading True North, because the position of the pole is always moving.

True North is the geographical direction represented on maps by lines of longitude. It never moves. True North is set and fixed based upon the Earth’s axis, which is unchanging. If you want to head True North and hit the center of the axis, use a map and adjust your compass to True North settings, because using a magnetic compass on factory settings will cause you to miss the mark.

That’s such a great picture of our spiritual journey. We step into the adventure of a lifetime when we enter into relationship with Father God through Jesus Christ. We prepare as best we can for the journey and set our hearts toward the Father, longing to go deeper and explore the treasures there. But often our hearts are still on factory settings, and we feel the pull of society tugging at us, drawing us toward its ideals and values.

Our culture is like the North Pole, ever changing. It is constantly shifting as it modifies its position on truth, morality and God. The values and standards are constantly being amended to conform to the opinion and philosophies of human reasoning. With our heart as a compass, the danger we face is being pulled toward its movement.

If we are going to hit our mark, the heart of Father God, then we must reset our compass on “True North”. We do this as we are inwardly transformed by Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how we think.  And as we allow Him to realign our hearts with the fixed axis of Truth, we become aware of society’s pull on our heart and are able to discern God’s will for our lives. (Romans 12:2)

We also need to study the Bible, our map. Like the lines of longitude never change on the globe, the truth of God’s Word never changes. God never changes. He does not change like shifting shadows. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever. (James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8) To ensure we hit our destination, we must always check our heart against the Bible. It will always point us directly to the heart of Father God. This practice is vitally important. In a world that tells you there are so many different paths to God, morals are ever changing, and values are continually shifting, if you don’t set your compass on true north, you’re going to miss the target.

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