Do You Need To Re-Calibrate?
“But let a man examine himself...” – I Corinthians 11:28
“But let each one examine his own work...” – Galatians 6:5.
Several nights ago, while in bed, I had a unique experience which I believe was from the Lord. I awoke from my sleep with one word reverberating in my mind, over and over again. It was the word “re-calibrate.” Throughout the night this same word would come as I would awake. I am convinced that it was a word from the Lord for me, and possibly others. Maybe you.
When I awoke in the morning, I immediately looked up the definition. It means to rectify, to correct, to change and to standardize, to adjust precisely for a particular function, and to re-measure against a standard. I especially related to the definition given by the Cambridge English dictionary which is “to make small changes to an instrument.”
Once I understood the meaning of the word, I began to ponder its meaning in the spiritual dimension of my life. I quickly discovered that the word “recalibrate” is not in the Scripture, but the principle of re-examining our lives as a disciple of Jesus Christ is found throughout the Word of God. One of my first insights was that the standard against which we should re-examine our lives is the inspired Word of God, the Bible. It is the absolute standard when the need for re-calibration takes place. The standard never changes, and the standard never needs re-calibration. The re-calibration is on our part, rather than the written Word of God.
I shared the word with several brothers and sisters, and learned more about re-calibrating. Hunters re-calibrate the sights on their weapons. Industrialists re-calibrate their scales, and pilots re-calibrate their instruments in order to arrive at their destination. I read that rocket scientists can be off one degree in launching a rocket to the moon, and they would miss the moon by 11,000 miles.
Recalibration is important in every aspect of our society, including our relationship with the Lord and with others.
We often need to re-calibrate our personal lives and our relationship with the Lord.
We need to re-calibrate our relationship with our spouses and children.
We need to re-calibrate our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As members of the Body of Christ, the church needs to re-calibrate according to the church as God intended it to be.
Does my ministry and ministry lifestyle need re-calibrating?
How do we go about finding out the areas in our life that need re-calibrating?
I have thought of several possible approaches to re-calibrating:
Ask yourself, what needs re-calibrating in your life. Most of us are aware of areas in our lives than need correction and adjustment.
Ask God to show you what needs to be re-calibrated in your life. I have found that if you have an obedient heart and ask the Lord to show you, He often will.
If you dare, ask someone you trust, to share any areas of your life that he or she feels need a divine adjustment.
Of course, all that we discover, and all that others share with us, must be measured up against God’s Word and will. But I believe that God is saying, “It is time for My people, individually and corporate, to re-examine themselves and judge themselves according to the Word.”
In closing I encourage you to read Revelation 11:1, where God tells John to take a measuring rod and measure the temple, the altar and those who worship there. I believe that we also need to measure the church (the temple), the word going forth (especially whether we are preaching Christ and Him Crucified), and those of us who are worshippers.
The Apostle Peter wrote:
“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.” – I Peter 4:17
FOR THE TIME HAS COME!
