On Point

by Andrew Cromwell

When you are setting a course for a long journey, a few degrees off-course can be the difference between Hawaii and Taiwan. It is critical to stay on course and on point if you want to get somewhere specific. The farther you have to go, the more important it is to stay “on point”. Pilots know that one degree off between Los Angeles and New York means you’re as likely to end up in Scranton or Philadelphia instead.

Similarly, in the course of life, a few degrees can be the difference between success and failure. One degree off — one little white lie, one careless financial decision, or one flirtatious glance — may not be a big deal today, but uncorrected, those small errors in judgment can result in lost jobs, mountains of debt, and ugly divorces.

By definition “on point” means “relevant and appropriate to what is happening or being discussed”. When I think of staying on point, I think of how easy it is to get off point! At our staff meetings, we frequently find ourselves off-topic and wonder how it is that we arrived at this severely “off-point” location. We then have to course-correct and get back on topic.

Isn’t life like that? We head out in one direction — we determine to do it right, stay on track, make good decisions, and not make the same mistakes we made last year — but before you know it, we find ourselves far from where we meant to be.

The Apostle Paul reminds us to “give attention to your spiritual life.” In other words, stay on point! It is so easy to drift off course and get distracted. We quickly forget that there is a spiritual world underneath the things we can see with our eyes. And before you know it we ignore the very part of us that is eternal (our spirit).

Paul goes on to say that if we stay close to the truth, we will experience a kind of life that is transformative and powerful both for us and for the people around us. That’s the kind of life I want! And I’m guessing it’s the kind you want too. But in order to experience it, we’re going to have to pay attention and make sure we stay on point.

Do you need to get back on point? Maybe you’ve been meaning to get things right with God for a while but just haven’t seemed to get around to it. Or maybe, you’ve never even tried. I want to see you find real success in life — the kind that echoes into eternity.