Despite high fuel prices, Americans still love to travel for business, visiting family and friends, and recreation. Quite a few travelers now use a Global Positioning System (GPS) to guide them. This wonder of technology relies on signals from satellites to ascertain location through triangulation. The results can be amazingly accurate. So, even if a person is in unfamiliar territory he can use a GPS unit to find out where he is and how to continue with the trip. This brings great relief to people who are lost.
Not too many years ago consumer oriented GPS units started becoming quite popular. There are many commercials on the television so most people have heard of them. Truck drivers who make deliveries at different locations really love them. Drivers in the family vehicle who are not good at reading and following maps also find them invaluable--especially the units that speak turn-by-turn directions.
The natural question that arises is: How were people able to navigate without GPS? If a person could read a map he usually made it to his destination with a minimum of wrong turns and delays. However, some maps did not adequately cover certain areas. In that case a driver could stop and ask for directions. Usually the information would be correct. However, there were times the person giving the directions was either unfamiliar with the destination or directionally challenged himself!
The Bible is God's Positioning System to take mankind from earth to heaven. Psalm 73:24 says - "You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory." The Scriptures show a person where he is spiritually, if he takes the time to look at the map (cf. James 1:23-25). God's standard will tell whether he is lost or on the way leading to heaven (cf. Matt. 7:13,14). If one is lost, he needs to acknowledge that fact and change course.
Like GPS units which rely on signals from the heavens, God uses His word from heaven. Psalm 119:89 states - "Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven." This map is unchanging, complete, and accurate (cf. II Tim. 3:16,17). No details are missing (cf. II Pet. 1:3). If it is to be of any value to us, we must learn how to read and follow it. Even if we do not know where we are spiritually, God knows at all times where we are. Hebrews 4:13 reveals - "There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."
If you are lost, God's Positioning System tells how to be saved and avoid eternal destruction (cf. II Thess. 1:9). God allows U-turns. His guidance allows souls to get where they ought to be. It can take them home at the end of this trip called life. Jesus already made the journey from heaven to earth and back again, so He can show us the way to heaven. Our Lord told His disciples - "'And where I go you know, and the way you know.' Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'" (John 14:4-6).
There is no need to stop and ask someone the way. Many souls have no idea how to get to heaven. Following other people's information can cause you to be lost. Apart from God's word, they will give wrong directions (cf. Jer. 10:23). Christians can help point you to heaven--as long as they give you Scriptures and not their opinions (cf. I Pet. 4:11).
Like man's technology, God's Positioning System provides no guidance unless it is used. GPS units are popular because people don't like being lost. If people truly believed their souls were lost in sin and headed for hell, they would seek for a remedy to their plight. The information is there. Man just needs to utilize God's Positioning System, the Bible, and exhort others to do likewise.