Attitude Check

"I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."¹

Ron Hutchcraft shares how a man he knew "would suddenly make this announcement: 'Attitude check!' That never meant much to me until I began to have some friends who are private pilots. But that word 'attitude' can be a life-or-death word for a pilot. One of my friends described a plane's attitude to me as its position relative to the ground, to the horizon…. After decades of flying, including landing on aircraft carriers, he summarized the importance of a plane's attitude this way: 'Right attitude, you keep flying. Wrong attitude, you stop flying.'

"Pilots tell me that when you're flying by your instruments—in those times when conditions won't let you fly visually—you adjust your attitude based on an instrument called your artificial horizon. It actually shows you where the real horizon is. But when you can't see any points of reference, your senses start playing tricks on you. One veteran pilot friend of mine said that even he has to sometimes fight his instincts and feelings that are telling him lies about whether he's going up or down. The only thing that's telling him the truth is his artificial horizon."²

Life's like that too. The attitude that was popularized a few years ago— "If it feels good, do it" —has had a disastrous effect on many an individual and on much of our society which has become incredibly permissive. As such we are on an ever- increasing slippery slope downwards.

Feelings can be one of the most dangerous directives to follow when it comes to choosing between a right and a wrong course of action to take. The instrument God has given to us to keep our attitude right is his Word, the Bible. We go against his directives to our own peril. As Christians we are to do right—regardless of what our feelings tell us. Right attitude, we keep flying. Wrong attitude, we crash.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, which gives me the right attitude to follow and to guide me safely through the storms of life. Give me sense enough to trust your Word and obey its directives—regardless of my feelings. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Psalm 119:10-11 (NIV).
2. "A Word With You," Ron Hutchcraft, http://www.hutchcraft.com/.
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