Density Altitude

We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, guard yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:18-21)

That’s an interesting passage, isn’t it? There’s a variety of things that get my attention. The first one is that people who are true, born again, believers do not live a life of sin. We know that people who are true believers commit sin, but they don’t live a life of sin. That’s the point being made here. John also stated that Jesus, the one born or begotten of God, keeps the true believer safe and the “evil one” does not touch him: meaning does not harm him. I know that there are other things to be considered here but I don’t want to go there right now. What I do want to focus on is the next verse that states that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” That’s where we live…sort of. I say “sort of” because the Apostle goes on to say that we not only know Jesus, we are also in Him. Then John ends the letter giving us the charge to guard ourselves from idols. The end result is to recognize that we live in a circumstance where we can be spiritually nurtured in Christ Jesus while, at the same time, influenced by the domain of the devil. Remember the Apostle Peter told us that the devil “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) It’s an interesting prospect that has gotten a lot of attention by theologians, but I don’t think you need to be an academic to grasp the concepts and apply them to your life. The environment is evil but we can navigate it if we exercise care and watch what we’re doing. And hear and understand what the Lord has provided us through the Messiah.

In contrast to that, we’ve been trained to think about our existence in a certain way. Modern…western…American people think about themselves and their environment informed by a modern understanding of existence. It seems obvious doesn’t it? What goes up must come down. Why? Because there’s a force called gravity that connects things to the earth. We shoot things into space and once they’re far enough away they keep going. The force holding them to the earth has been broken; simple, right? Modern culture tends to think that’s all there is to it. We exist because molecules adhere to each other in complex ways creating a substance that is animated through biological processes that produce a self-conscious existence. How’s that for a mouthful? Then that understanding is complemented with notions of religion: beliefs that suggest that something more is at work in the prospect of human existence than physical processes. How do the two categories of thought get along? I’d say precariously. They don’t seem to jive. And… where does that leave us? Scratching our heads while we read sections of the Bible, like the one above. The “whole world lies in the power of the evil one”? What does that mean? How can we be “in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ”?

That brings us back to the title of this post: Density Altitude. It’s a calculation that indicates how an aircraft will perform in the current circumstances in which it’s operating. What does that have to do with the world being in the power of the evil one, and our being in Christ???  It can act as an analogy to help us understand what Scripture is talking about. The Bible is a revelation of reality; a reality that is overseen by God Almighty, the Lord of Hosts. And understanding the Lord and His creation does not reduce to mathematics and scientific processes! So in order to try and get a handle on these things, we can use an analogy to gain some understanding. In this case the principle idea is to understand that air is a fluid of sorts. You can tell this by waving your hand through the air. When you do that you can feel the air, right? It’s not as dense as water but it’s still a fluid. The density of that fluid decreases as elevation increases. Airplanes can’t maintain altitude if there’s no air to flow over its wings. (Rocket ships are not high powered airplanes, they’re more like bullets that are thrust up to high elevations until the force of gravity is diminished enough to allow them to sustain their elevation in orbit). It’s also the case that at high elevations, the air is so thin only jet powered aircraft can sustain flight because jet engines compress the air in order to maintain combustion—combustion of fuel requires oxygen to burn and there’s less oxygen available where the air is less dense. Density Altitude provides an indication of how an aircraft will perform based on the current temperature and barometric pressure in which it’s operating. Air may look the same in various settings, but its density varies depending on the current conditions.

It’s also the case that people flying at high altitudes need help in order to get enough oxygen to breathe. That’s because the air is so thin. Just as combustion engines need to compress air to run at high altitudes, people need compressed air to get sufficient oxygen when they breathe. That’s why the cabins of commercial jets are pressurized, providing air that contains enough oxygen to sustain the passengers at higher altitudes. We need sufficient air to breathe wherever we are. If we get to a high altitude without having some means to sustain our breathing we’ll be in trouble—people who climb high mountains often need to carry compressed air with them in order to get enough oxygen at high elevations. If we don’t get enough oxygen at such altitudes we’ll pass out. That’s what happened to the golfer Payne Stewart and his friends about twenty-five years ago. They were flying above 20,000 feet in a pressurized Lear Jet when air traffic controllers lost radio contact with them. The aircraft flew for four hours in a more-or-less straight line until it ran out of fuel and crashed. Air Force jets intercepted them but there was no response from inside the aircraft and it was thought that there had been a rapid depressurization at altitude that caused everyone to pass out. When I was doing the ground school instruction for a commercial pilot’s license, the instructor had us participate in a program at NASA that familiarized us with the effects of depressurization and hypoxia. They put us in a hyperbolic chamber wearing oxygen masks and reduced the oxygen in the chamber. Then one at a time we would take our masks off and attempt to do some simple puzzles to test our mental abilities; all while being monitored by a partner wearing his mask. It was a strange experience to have your ability to think and understand gradually diminish, which is what happened. If we hadn’t put our masks on when we were instructed we would have passed out. But that wasn’t obvious to me as it was happening; it was a gradual reduction of abilities. In the case of the Payne Stewart tragedy, it was thought that depressurization happened instantaneously, and at a very high altitude, causing the passengers to pass out before they could get their masks on. (No one really knows what happened!)

This provides us with an illustration of what it means to walk by the Spirit in an environment that’s informed by the powers of darkness. It’s a treacherous atmosphere that we live in and we need to watch what we’re doing.  Our adversary, the devil, and the environment of this world will suffocate us if we’re not paying attention. The influences can be subtle, and seemingly harmless, but they can have a devastating impact. The first thing we might focus on then is the spiritual equivalent of an oxygen mask. What provides us with the necessary spiritual air that we need to breathe? What’s the first thing that happened to the apostles at Pentecost? It was their reception of the Holy Spirit wasn’t it? (Acts 2) Of course they had received a lot of teaching from Jesus before that event, but it all came to life at Pentecost. I’m not necessarily promoting a charismatic experience that includes “gifts” such as tongues. I am suggesting a spiritual experience with the Lord that provides the air we need to sustain our lives: the Holy Spirit. And reading the Bible and engaging in regular prayer are means whereby the Holy Spirit will extend His influence over our lives; which means that these disciplines must be practiced aggressively. Rather than drudgery, intercourse with God should be life giving, providing the means for withstanding the real drudgery of life apart from the Lord. But it’s something that must be sought and practiced. Developing a rapport with the Lord is possible for everyone but it doesn’t just happen, it needs to be sought. And it needs to be guarded. Even the most experienced Christians can get distracted in this strange world of America today; and the erosion of our walk with God can be subtle just as hypoxia can be subtle as it slowly deprives us of the oxygen we need to sustain our lives.

We might also notice how the Apostle John ends his letter in the excerpt above. After admonishing us to be careful and aware of the treachery of our circumstances, he tells us to guard ourselves from idols. What’s an idol? Isn’t it something other than God that we worship? And what does it mean to worship? Doesn’t it mean to serve, and acclaim the power of, something that will sustain our lives? Giving us direction, providing meaning, determining the manner in which we live? And what could that be? A lot of things perhaps, but I think that a case could be made that the source for much of our idolatry is the same now as it was in the first century when John wrote his letter. The name that I would apply to this may not seem harmful but it’s there nonetheless. It’s commerce. Commerce, trade, the engagement in buying and selling to such an extent that it acts as the source for the meaning of life. God forbid, but that is what it is! You can find this assessment in places like Ezekiel where the prophet lamented and declared the utter profanity of ancient Tyre, or James’ assessment of the impact of trade in his Epistle, or John’s own charge against symbolic Babylon in his Revelation. (Ezekiel 27-28; James 5; Revelation 18) All these declarations attest to the utter distraction of commerce and its ability to displace the one true God as the source and reason for human existence.

And here we are about to embark on the quintessential season for engaging in commerce: Christmas! Black Friday sales a month before Thanksgiving, all manner of media being exploited to pedal the wares of American culture; it’s the season of buy, buy, buy. And the idolatry isn’t just found in the commerce of “things,” it’s also the commerce of ideas: ideas that tell us how to be happy, how to be safe, how to be valued. Woe to us if we let this environment sap us of what really sustains our lives: the living God who longs for our fellowship and our fidelity towards Him. And that fellowship is not just to please Him, it’s for our own well-being that we need to forsake our idols and find our sustenance in our Lord. But remember what John told us in his letter: the “whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” And that evil one is treacherous, subtle, and patient, capable of slowly draining our lives from us without our even knowing it—if we’re not careful. Distractions appearing to be acceptable and safe, can turn into something that slowly saps our energy, our vigilance, and our judgment putting us in a posture of vulnerability.

Remember:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

Watch Out! Seek the Lord! Halleluiah! Merry Christmas!