Fixed upon the North Star

“Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze directly before you.”
(Proverbs 4:25)

“They may have lived wildly and drank hard, but sailors who forged the high seas in days of old held one seemingly small detail with utmost sobriety,” write Medefind and Lokkesmoe in their book The Revolutionary Communicator. “That one little detail, appearing not much larger than a freckle in the sky, could impact the outcome of a journey even more than the speed of a ship, the spread of its sails, or the skill of the deckhands.” They continue,

Sailors made sure to know which star was the North Star.

Other heavenly bodies spun continuously across the night sky, never fixed. The North Star was different, shining always as the center point, the standard by which seamen could chart their course, log their location, and measure their progress.

Mistakenly set your instruments by any other point of light, and you very well could end up anywhere … anywhere, that is, except where you want to go.

What star is your life fixed upon?

Della Reese, star of the CBS hit Touched By An Angel, stands before the congregation at a church in West Hollywood – her church; she has traded in her angel wings for a pastor’s pulpit. It is a crowded service at the Understanding Principles of Better Living Church, and Della is preaching prosperity.

“There ain’t nothin’ up there,” she says. “So whatever it is you want, need or desire, or just like to have, you better try to get it now, ‘cause this is the only time there is. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may be for us and it may not.”

Getting what you want while you can – that is one definition of success.

Here’s another: the frail woman, her sari held together by a safety pin, seemed out of place in a room of presidents and kings. Among these guests, she was anomaly – renowned for her work, yet possessing little to show for it. Where others had sedans and servants, she could carry all of her possessions in her worn and weathered hands.

One of the leaders, astonished by the woman’s devotion to meeting the needs of the desperately poor, asked her if she didn’t become discouraged when she saw so few successes in her work.

Mother Teresa answered, “No, I do not become discouraged. You see, God has not called me to a ministry of success. He has called me to a ministry of mercy.”

“Get it now” versus “ministry of mercy.” Each is a guiding star. Each will lead to very different ends.[i]



Reflect...


What are some bright stars in our culture at large?





What are some key venues whereby these messages are transmitted?





Our culture seems to equate success to lots of money and popularity. Reflect on the following statement made by Mother Teresa.

“God has not called me to be successful;
He has called me to be faithful.”
Mother Teresa

“When generous acts bloom from unselfish thought
the Lord is with us though we know it not.”
Larcom

[i] Jedd Medefind & Erik Lokkesmoe, The Revolutionary Communicator, (Relevant Media Group, 2004), 129-130.