I used to fly quite a bit for work – traveling to clients in Dallas and New Jersey every month. In fact, I have been to DFW and Newark airport approximately 100 times – each! I also had to travel to Los Angeles for a time and even flew to Milwaukee every several weeks for about a year. So I am used to flying so much so that it became akin to being on a bus with wings. I think I finally got the to point of being just this side of comatose whenever I got on a jet – even upgrading to first class to have a larger seat and easier access to getting on and off when departing and arriving.
And flying out of Indianapolis, it’s typical that I had to change planes along the route somewhere. Not too many of my destinations had a direct flight from Indy. Of course, I frequented the airline clubs whenever I could. That was, I flew quite often until COVID. Most of flying had come to an end and there was a period of about five years that I don’t think I flew at all. Then, last fall, Janet and I went on a cruise and had to fly to our point of origin, returning a week later. And then again, this spring, we flew once more.
I have found myself much more attentive to the flight instructions than I used to be. I am sure that some of it is the fact that I am curious what has changed during the past several years; and to be sure, there are differences. For example, I can’t believe how casual the attire has become on planes today. But that’s a post for a different day…
Of all the things that I heard on my latest flight, after hearing about the location of the exits and the emergency lighting, I was struck by the admonishment to put your own mask on first in the event of a loss of cabin pressure. Oddly, the first thing I thought about is that this instruction seems to be counter intuitive, especially for mothers and fathers if they are traveling with their children. What parent wouldn’t help their children first, before worrying about their own well being. But on reflection, it made sense to me. If something happens to Mom and Dad, then the situation becomes even more dire for the kids. As selfish as it sounds, you must have your own air first or you’re not good for anything or in a position to help anyone else.
I was struck by the fact that this is the same way it is with our spiritual lives. How often we want to instruct others as to what they should be doing when Jesus wants us to make sure that we are right with Him first. It is critical that we focus on our singular relationship with Christ before we step in to help others.
There are verses about taking the log out of your own eye before worrying about the splinter in another’s eye. But I’m not even speaking about that as much as I am saying that we need to be right with God so that the Holy Spirit can work through us to positively affect others. If we have not made sure that we are connected to God, nothing else in our lives will work the way it was designed to.
There are even scriptural references to “air”, similar to the airplane mask parallel. The theme of Genesis is “forming and filling.” God created everything during the first three days of creation and then filled it as He saw fit. And this is how the creation of Adam occurred. God created him from the dust of the earth and then filled him with breath – the “ruach” (from the Hebrew) or breath of God.
So from the creation of mankind, it is clear that we must be filled with the Spirit of God and be in communion with Him before we can help others learn the way to salvation and eternal life. Everything must be in alignment so God can use us according to His call on each of our lives.
Our verse for tonight is the verse that Moses, the author of Genesis, used to tell us how God created Adam. We are told, in Genesis 2:7, “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” In other words, we were not complete until God filled us with His breath. That’s an important detail for us to acknowledge and remember.
My encouragement this evening is that God filled each for us with His breath and as a result, as believers, we have the opportunity to spread the Good News. My prayer is that we will remember to always make sure we put on our own mask first and that we continue to receive the spiritual air we breathe from the most important source that ever existed. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…