(Isa 40:31) But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
(Heb 12:1) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us [self-gravity], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us [emphasis mine],
(Heb 12:2) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Some years ago, my son, a young teenager, and I were heading north on I-75, we were passing by the airport in Atlanta. A 747 was on final approach, rapidly descending just above the freeway. As the huge airframe made its way over the freeway in full view of our front windshield, I told my son sitting on the passenger side in the front seat to never stop marveling at the miracle of flight.
This was the content that I shared with him as best as I can remember.
“Son, whenever or wherever you see a sight like this, try not to think to yourself, ‘Ho-hum, it is just another airplane, big deal.” It is a big deal! It is easy to lose sight of the marvel of engineering that is overcoming the law of gravity to its advantage, as we speak because it has become so common or mundane. What you and I are witnessing is an aircraft that probably weighs easily over 350,000 pounds from what I have read, and that is without fuel, crew, passengers, or cargo!
Do you remember seeing the Wright brother’s airplane, the Wright Flyer, on exhibit when we visited the Smithsonian, National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.? It only weighed 600 pounds during takeoff from Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina in 1903! Who could have envisioned an aircraft such as this on that day in 1903? Never lose the amazing wonder of flight, my son. Never lose sight of the wonderful things going on around us even if they are daily occurrences.”
After all of my jawing, he simply said, “Okay, Dad.” He never said, “Wow,” at the sight of a 747. I did as soon as I saw that humongous bird flying overhead, and his silence was what prompted my sermon! Don’t get me started on birds!
Do you remember reading about people saying, “If God wanted man to fly, he would have given him wings?” Such narrowmindedness and shortsightedness suck the oxygen right out of the room whenever you are around people like that. Skeptics will never break the bonds of the gravity of their own thinking. Unfortunately, this illustration is not limited to flight or the natural world, but also to spiritual things by like-minded folks questioning the need to mount up with wings like eagles (Isa 40:31) when they can safely strut like turkeys on the ground. Oh, they don’t say it, but the way they live a grounded life, as if their wings had been clipped, speaks loudly.
Don’t get me wrong, turkeys are naturally smart birds, but that’s the problem with people with this kind of mindset. Their smartness is interfering with being spiritual. And they can’t figure out why they are weary when they run, and faint when they walk? They are tethered to the earth, earthbound and earth-minded by self-gravity and drag
Wouldn’t you prefer to soar in the will of God rather than walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful (Psa 1:1)? Talk about drag and weight bringing you down – “If God wanted man to fly, He would have given him wings,” right?
Spiritually, the LORD has provided each born again believer with lift and thrust through the Holy Spirit so that we can fly to unreachable heights in the will of God (Cf. Jn 14:17; Rom 5:5; 8:9, 11; 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19; Gal 5:16; Eph 2:22; 5:18; 2 Tim 1:14; 1 Jn 3:24).
For a believer, it is not rocket science; regardless of our station in life, two principles are made abundantly clear in Scripture. Obedience to God brings blessings; disobedience produces unnecessary and avoidable burdens. In God’s will we soar like eagles; out of God’s will we fly like a rock. We transcend spiritual gravity by the wings of faith in obedience to God’s will, and we feel the weight of disobedience plummeting us downward when we disregard it. It is similar to the law of aerodynamics involving lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Words that I have been kicking around already.
You know of the four forces that help an airplane to get off the ground and fly. They are lift, thrust, drag, and weight. The Wright brothers had to contend with these same four back in 1903. No matter how advanced aviation becomes, there is still the matter of lift, thrust, drag, and weight that must be addressed.
Simply speaking, each of these forces has an opposing force. With lift, it is weight; with thrust, it is drag. Weight and drag are negative factors in getting airborne but serve as a positive dynamic in descent. Whenever the forces are balanced, the plane will fly level, theoretically speaking.
For the plane to ascend, the forces of lift (wings cause the air pressure to be higher on the bottom of the wing forcing the plane to push upward) and thrust (created by a prop, jet, or rocket engine) is greater than the weight (gravity) and drag (a force of resistance, caused by friction and differences in air pressure). If the forces of gravity and drag are greater, the plane will descend. Again, thrust propels a plane forward, and lift pushes a plane upward; drag slows it down, and weight (gravity) pushes the plane downward.
Self-gravity is in partnership with drag, that resistance you feel when you stick your hand out the window while riding in a car. Self-gravity is the weight of personal rebellion. Drag is the resistance by the flesh, the world system, and the devil to oppose your forward motion in the will of God. When weight and drag become greater by choice than lift and thrust in the Spirit, we lose altitude and are heading for a crash and burn unless lift and thrust are considered of greater importance in a situation.
You know what goes up must come down. The law of aerodynamics allows us to temporarily transcend the forces of gravity and drag. But I am of the opinion in spiritual flight, God’s flight pattern for our lives, God wants us to remain airborne in our journey. To gain as much altitude as possible through faith and total dependence upon the Holy Spirit, soaring continually!
Yes, we are breathing, walking, talking, and living to be like Christ and a witness and an ambassador for the Kingdom of God while on terra firma, but spiritually we should be soaring higher and higher toward Christlikeness and ever-gaining altitude in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. The only ground factored in is to be grounded in His Word.
Alas, there is that self-gravity and drag to deal with, working against us in the airflow of living for God. All we hear below is that unrelenting mantra from the world to “Resist, resist, resist!” Crash and burns are everywhere. Touch and goes are too numerous by those believers who toy with worldly thinking. How many have landed and walked away from being too weary and faint to soar in the heavenly places, being grounded? Only God knows. The skies are becoming less populated with eagles! Unlike the eagles of earth, we as believers were meant to fly perpetually without ever coming down to perch, or feast upon the world’s dainties.
Would to God, should the rapture take place in our lifetime, we would be caught up to meet Him in the air from the air rather than on the earth, figuratively speaking, snatched away while soaring in the incredible heights of the wonder of His will.
The wings of faith keep us aloft by total dependence upon the lift and awesome power of the Person of the Holy Spirit, a far greater force than self-gravity and drag could ever be (1 Jn 4:4). <><
(Mat 25:23) His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.
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