Who is Your Pilot

Happy Sunday and happy new year. I remember in high school reading a book by George Orwell entitled 1984. At the time that seemed so far in the future. There was a movie that came out in 1968 entitled 2001, a space odyssey.

And as a kid, it seemed that 2001 was just way out there. That was now a quarter of a century ago. I read a quote the other day that said, "The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you're the pilot."

I'm not sure that I agree with that as a Christian. Am I the pilot or is God the pilot? If you're watching this with someone, you may want to pause this for a moment and give your thoughts. Am I the pilot in your life?

Are you the pilot or is God the pilot? I'd also love to see what you think if you would be kind enough to leave comments on the platform you're watching on today. I suppose the answer to the question is it depends. If I were honest, there are some days when I try to take control and there are other days when I ask God to take control.

Do you remember this word from John the Baptist found in John 3:30? About Jesus, John said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John wants Jesus to be the pilot. In essence, John is saying, "Let me not be me.

God, don't let John come out. I can truly identify with this. When we become who God wants us to be, when we let him control us, so many wonderful things happen. However, when we remain ourselves, we can miss the greatest of blessings.

Here's a prayer that might explain this a little bit better. I love this prayer. I found it years ago. Who it came from, I do not know.

If I knew, I would give them credit. But the prayer is simply this. Lord, help me to accomplish things that are totally disproportionate to who I am. Let me do it again.

Lord, help me to accomplish things that are totally disproportionate to who I am. That's really what John was praying. If we want God to use us in great ways, we must let him have full control. Let him be the pilot.

The problem occurs when we have increased and God has decreased. God gave each of us free will and daily, moment by moment, we must decide who's in charge. Listen to what we are told in Romans 8:11. The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.

And just as God raised Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same spirit living within you. But every day we have to make a choice, don't we? Every moment. I wonder what would happen if each of us partnered with God to be he who he wants us to be.

What could be accomplished? How would 2026 be different from the years behind us? I've given God so many excuses in my lifetime. There have been times when I've not given my very best and I've been the pilot.

As I look back, and probably all of us are the same way, I think that I could have done so much more. And still, I think I could do so much more. or let me get personal for a moment here. I've always wanted to write a book.

I've started, but I've never finished. And I have no excuse. I bought a book a year or so ago, maybe more, by a man named John Dominique Bobby. The book is entitled The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

I think it might be a movie also. The book's not the best book I've ever read, not in the top hundred, but I'm so inspired by how it was written. The author was once the editor-inchief of L magazine. He had a massive stroke and was totally paralyzed.

Totally. He wrote this book from a hospital bed. The entire book was written by Bobby blinking his left eyelid, which took 10 months, four hours a day, using a scanning transcriber in a computer. Bobby blinked one letter at a time.

The book took about 200,000 blinks to write. An average word took about two minutes. Now, I don't know the spiritual condition of Jean Dominique Bobby. Yet I know that if I truly let God be the pilot that I can accomplish more than ever.

You can too, by the way. Remember the prayer, Lord, help me accomplish things today that are totally disproportionate to who I am. That's my prayer for all of us today. Happy New Year.

Do something disproportionate. Let God be the pilot. Next week, we begin our study on Proverbs. Pray with me.

Lord, thank you for new beginnings. There's something special about a new year and I thank you that every day for a believer can be new. So fill us with a newness that only you can give us. Let your spirit guide us and let us let go and let us decrease and you increase.

What a great goal for 2026. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. God bless.

Happy new year.