Ballast

March 4, 2007

Reading: 1 John 2:12-17

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” - Hebrews 12:1

A former commander of the Imperial Russian Navy said that he went to London during World War I for training. There he learned how to fly one of three dirigibles his government had bought from England.

But first he had to learn to fly a simple, un-powered balloon. He recalled getting into the gondola and seeing all four sides covered with ballast-sandbags adding weight to keep the craft on the ground. To ascend, the crew dropped this dead weight until the huge balloon slowly and silently lifted off the ground. The more sand they dropped, the higher the balloon climbed.

The Russian then applied this to his relationship with the Lord: “Now that I’m a Christian,” he said, “I understand that when God begins to clean up my heart, I get closer and closer to Him.” The meaning for us should be obvious. When we drop the dead weight the world and the flesh have on board, our craft quietly gains altitude. It’s for us to identify where it is in our lives, then, make the decision to drop it.

St. Paul tells us what this dead weight is in Galatians 5: “Now the doings (practices) of the flesh are clear (obvious): they are immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies), envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like.” His last statement tells us what happens if we don’t drop these spiritual sandbags: “I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Clearly, if we are to rise in the Kingdom, we must drop our dead weight-habits from lives not regenerated by Him.

Hebrews 12:1 and 1 John 2:15 express that same spiritual truth. Carrying this world’s weight hampers our fellowship with the Lord and keeps our hearts from rising in love for Him. Not surprisingly, St. John wrote that we cannot love the world and love God at the same time. Kyrie Eleison!
Selfish attitudes, besetting sins, and worldly cares keep us from getting off the ground spiritually. But when we lay them aside, we experience the uplifting joy of fellowship with the Father. Lent is an excellent time to determine this by the ancient practice of examen-testing ourselves for dead weight preventing our ascent.

May God show us our ballast and empower us to flight instead of remaining earthbound.

For your meditation time: Our attitude determines our altitude.

By Grace, Chip+

Posted by Father Chip | Filed Under Devotionals