Cybernetics
In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. ––Proverbs 3:6-8
Cybernetics (loosely translated from the Greek): “a helmsman who steers his ship to port.”
In 1960, Maxwell Maltz wrote a book called Psycho-Cybernetics talking about Cybernetics, the study of trajectory. Trajectory is the origin of the system that guides rocket ships from one heavenly body to another. The study revealed the need for mid-course corrections in a rocket’s trajectory as it sped across space from one moving object to another moving object.
Amazingly, in our flight, it’s possible for even the inertia created by our salvation to be manipulated and thrown off course. Though we might fully embrace the gospel and God’s power in our lives, slight trajectory and velocity changes of the mind, over enough time, can pull us way off course. Think not-so-sound advice, or faulty beliefs about God’s Word. Just like an imperiled space capsule has to fire its engines at exactly the right times to keep the right trajectory, God’s man must employ constant vigilance to listen to the right voices and use the indicators to steer toward an authentic, Christ-centered life.
Satan makes well-calculated attempts to take advantage of our spiritual passion and momentum to slingshot us away from God’s highest purposes and toward his own target of synthetic “Christian” living. That target, as the name suggests, has the look of faith but none of its power.
The Devil can’t take away our salvation or connection to Jesus. True, but he can still do his best to make that connection as unhealthy and toxic as possible. His aim with us is simple: take an authentic conversion and attempt to make it shallow, synthetic, and full of contradictions.
For God’s man, course corrections include check-ins with trusted friends, transparency with spouse of family, consistent time with the Father and His Word. As we check our trajectory against His coordinates, our cybernetics remain true and secure.
Father, thank You for Your Holy Spirit and His promptings.