North Star
What does it mean to say Jesus is your North Star?
I’ve always liked the concept of a “North Star.” I’ve never been a sailor, and have no intention of ever becoming one. I always say I’m a Methodist, I don’t need all that water, but, to my understanding, Polaris, or the North Star, is one of the most useful tools for navigation. It’s the brightest star in its constellation, and it is situated nearly directly over the North Pole. Because of this, it is an excellent navigational tool. If you need to know where you are, or where you need to be headed, you can always look to the North Star, and it can tell you.
I like that. I like that a lot. I can imagine being lost at sea, tossed by the wind and waves, and not knowing what to do, where to turn, or how to make it. What do you do? You look to the North Star.
It’s crazy out there, y’all. Doesn’t life just seem to be coming at us full steam? It all feels disorienting sometimes. There’s just too much information and data coming at us at all times. I think of the Marvel movie where Tony Stark (Iron Man) met Peter Parker (Spiderman), and he was making fun of the goggles he wore. Peter said that after he became Spiderman, there was too much coming at him, and he needed something to focus with.
Have you ever felt that way? With everything happening locally, in our state, in our nation, in the world, we are just overwhelmed. And all of this comes at us from so many places and directions, social media, TikTok, YouTube, podcasts, and all kinds of media. So often we just feel like we are like that boat, tossed and torn by the waves.
I remember years ago when I was discerning a lot of things about my future, I emailed a dear mentor, and I asked him, what was his North Star. What did he look to when he was lost? What did he look to when he didn’t know which way to go? What did he turn to?
I’ve thought a lot about that conversation as the years passed, and I’ve asked myself that question repeatedly. What is my North Star? What do I turn to? How do I know right from wrong? How do I know where to go? And every time I ask that question of myself, I think of the words of Hebrews 12: 1-2:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
What is my North Star? Jesus.
Well, duh. I’m a Christian. Not only that, but I’m an ordained pastor. The answer to that had better be Jesus. I think for most of us, that would be the answer. But if that’s the answer, it raises another question. What does it mean? What does it mean to say that Jesus is our North Star? That’s the question I struggled with for so long. I’d like to share with you what it means to me, Andy Stoddard, to say that Jesus is my North Star.
First, it means that my identity is found in Jesus alone. Today, this is huge. I’ve written about this recently. My deepest truth is that I am a Child of God and a follower of Jesus Christ. That is my deepest identity. That must come before my politics. It must come before my sports allegiance. It must come before my denominational or theological membership. It must come before everything. It must even come before my identity as a husband, a father, a pastor, a friend. My identity must be found in Jesus before it is found in anything else.
So often we find our deepest identity in something other than Jesus, and these things cannot support the weight of that identity. Politics, spirits, and even family cannot bear the soul’s weight. Only Jesus can do that. I have to be secure in Him before anything else in life makes sense. My deepest truth must be the Lordship of Jesus Christ, before anything.
Second, I will seek to model my life by His ethics. How Jesus lived must be how I live. If Jesus is my North Star, then I must seek to live by the same values He lived by. I think we see those values laid out quite well in the earlier Hebrews passage. He disregarded the shame of the cross, seeing it as joy to be obedient to the will of His Father. He did not seek His own way. He did not seek His own will. He humbled Himself. He served. He loved. He obeyed. Even though He didn’t “have” to. He did. He humbled Himself even to the point of death on the cross. He did this because through His death, He would forever defeat death. He knew that this way of the cross, this way of sacrifice, would be the path that brought freedom.
If Jesus is my North Star, I must be the same. I cannot seek my power, my fame, my influence. I cannot seek what Andy wants. I have to submit the will of Andy to the will of Jesus. That is what it means to live out his ethics. Not power. Not might. None of these things. Humility. Service. Dying to self. Taking up your cross. That is who Jesus is. If He is my North Star, then through His grace, that must be who I am as well.
Last, I seek to follow His commands. The great thing about His ethics is that He has shown them to us. And I believe the Christian life can best be understood by looking at the Sermon on the Mount. There is so much here, but here are just a few things he told us there:
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
12 “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Y’all. This is hard. But this is the way. If I am going to make Jesus my North Star, then I simply cannot hate my enemies. I must pray for those who curse me. I have to do right by everyone. I have to love EVERYONE. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, that’s not just words. He means it.
If I say I am going to follow Jesus, then I have to do that. I must. I must.
So, back to where we started, things are hard now. I know. But when I want to give in to anger or hatred, I cannot. If I want to harden my heart, I cannot. If I want to fight, strike, and punch, I cannot.
I have to look to Jesus. I have to. I must. He is my Lord. He is my North Star. As Christians, friends, we have to build our lives around this. We must. If we are going to say Jesus is Lord, we must. This must be what we do.
No matter what culture, or powers, or political systems, or principalities say. It must be about Jesus. He is our North Star.
If you don’t know what to do, look to Jesus. And then pray for the grace, the community, and the support to be obedient. Together, friends, with Jesus as our North Star, I believe through His grace and love, we can win our streets, our neighborhoods, our towns, our states, our nation, and our world for Jesus. May we never exchange the glory of God for human idols or systems.
May Jesus be our North Star.