This week’s post was written by my friend Claudia Kalmikov. Claudia recently graduated from Biola’s MA in Apologetics program and is producing great content at straighttalkwithclaudiak.com. I hope you enjoy this article and go check out her other work!

At our church, my husband and I co-teach an apologetics class with our missions pastor, Kevin. Recently, the discussion evolved from the subject of how some people think with their emotions rather than what we know to be true, to how we sometimes feel unworthy to serve because we don’t feel close to the Lord.

Kevin was an MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) pilot years ago. He told us a story about how he used to train new pilots. He’d take them up in a plane, put a hood over their head so they couldn’t see out the window, and make them fly the plane with instruments only. Sometimes he would take over the controls, crank the plane to the right, climb it way up, then put it into a dive and say, “Here you go, it’s all yours now.” The student had to get the plane level again just by looking at the instruments. Kevin would continuously tell them “Always trust your instruments.”

Sometimes the plane would be level but the student’s body would be leaning way over with their head on Kevin’s shoulder saying, “It doesn’t feel level.” Kevin would again say, “Trust your instruments.” Pretty soon, the student would straighten up and realize the plane was level. They had let their feelings control them rather than the facts in front of them that they knew to be true.

When we behave in any matter because of what our emotions tell us, we are letting our emotions rather than facts, dictate our behavior and our decisions. If one is not willing to listen to truth because they are emotional, one can miss the truth and the consequences can be devastating.

When we feel unworthy to serve in church or anywhere because we haven’t completed the checklist that Christians like to complete such as daily devotionals, regular prayer, irregular church attendance, etc… we forget what we know is true. That God created us in His image and sees us as someone worth dying for. That he sees us as righteous because of the blood of Christ. We are forgiven of our sin. Jesus paid a high price for us with His blood, forgiving all of our past sins, present sins and future sins. To feel we are not worthy is to fly the plane with our feelings rather than to trust the instruments. We must trust what we know about our salvation. We are loved and we must remember what the Bible tells us about God’s promises, for they are our instruments. Trust your instruments.