Christmas Eve A Trust Your Instruments


 Christmas Eve A Trust Your Instruments
December 24, 1983
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell

God sent the first Christmas greeting to some shepherds who were working their flocks near Bethlehem; “I bring you good news of great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” In the final analysis, no matter how hard the world tries to stretch and bend Christmas to fit the ways of the world, it all comes down to the very simple but direct message printed on the window of a beauty shop across from the Eastgate Mall…. “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Jesus is God’s response to humankind’s deepest needs.



  • We will all die…. Jesus is life.

  • We are all sinners …. Jesus is forgiveness.

  • We will never have all knowledge … Jesus is the wisdom, knowledge, and the truth of God.


Life, on our dangerous earth, is short and uncertain. In the face of that grim common denominator, we are given this comforting word from God’s holy scripture – John 3:16, “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not parish, but have eternal life.”


Jesus is life.


We have all failed to keep God’s laws for life, as spelled out in the ten commandments. When we are willing to stop trying to justify our selfish acts or rationalize our destructive behavior, we must all admit that we deserve punishment. In First Timothy we read that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”


Jesus is forgiveness. 


We all eventually discover after many attempts to solve the problems of the world that we lack knowledge. In our sincere efforts to make things better we often end up making them worse. In John 8:12 Jesus says to the people, “I am the light of the world. So, if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for the living light will flood your path.”


Jesus is wisdom.


In the face of death, Jesus is life. In the face of sin, Jesus is forgiveness. In the face of blindness, Jesus is the way of life. When in faith we are willing to personally accept God’s Messiah then…. The Savior is born… in our hearts. John Rice wrote, “We can never truly enjoy Christmas until we can look up into the Father’s face and tell Him we have received His Christmas gift.”


In Paul’s letter to Titus, he suggests that we all will to be trained by God’s motivating love and zeal to renounce the selfish and destructive ways of the world, and to learn to put our trust and hope in the saving forgiveness, love, and guidance of Jesus Christ. 


The process of turning my life over to Jesus Christ requires, I believe, some of the same discipline as learning to fly an airplane….by instruments alone. The Moody Bible Institute has produced a film that powerfully illustrates the imperative to (in conditions of no visibility) trust your instruments! In one segment of that film, they play a tape of a pilot’s voice who had navigational instruments on board, but chose to ignore their readings in favor of what seemed to “feel” right. The pitch of his voice goes higher and higher as he gets more confused, and at the end there is full-blown panic, and then…silence.


Example) Tell the story of the bomber crew that flew past their destination because they could not (or would not) believe their instruments. 


I remembered the film as I was flying home to Walla Walla on Cascade Airlines. As we left Yakima, the pilot announced that flying conditions in Walla Walla were marginal. It was a foggy, bumpy flight, followed by a bouncy landing. After landing, as we rolled to taxiing speed on the runway, one of the passengers released the tension by saying in a loud voice, “Nice landing Skipper!”


Isaiah prophesied that a child will be born to lead His people and He will be known as a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These are the attributes of the Messiah that serve as the instruments that guide us in our daily living. The question that each of us must ask for ourselves is… Do I trust the instruments? ….. Do I trust God’s counsel? Do I trust God’s might? …. Do I believe that God is my eternal Father, and that to follow Jesus is the ultimate peace.


I believe that the only hope of the world rests on my willingness, and your willingness to believe what God has shown us, and continues to show us through Jesus Christ.


Our hope rests on trusting Him, even when His ways seem strange to us. If the Lord tells us to forgive our enemies, why would we insist on our own way, and reject the instrument readings that God is giving us, as wrong? If the instruments of our salvation says repeatedly that we be servant of all, why would we insist on a pecking order, so that someone ends up serving us?


Today when clever men and women can, for their own purpose, manipulate the news until right seems wrong, and wrong seems right, it is even more vital that we have easy access to a reliable check point. It would seem at times that the world is out to “fool us” to “play games” with our senses. In conditions of low visibility…. trust your God!


Do not be fooled! Jesus Christ is our reliable check point. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Dear God, train us to put ourselves in touch with the Lord’s truth, and for the world’s sake, trust what He tells us.  Amen!

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