Weathervain

Vain: without real significance, value, or importance; baseless or worthless…

I am always amazed when I hear of a man “complaining” that his wife wants him to accompany her to a mall and that he doesn’t want to go with her; especially to “window-shop”. I admit it; I love window-shopping and am very happy to accompany Cathy on trips to go window-shopping. No, not for windows that one would place in a house; but to look at articles in the windows of stores without making any purchases.

I am pretty happy with what I have in life and I am not really looking for any particular material possession; thinking; “I must have this or that…” in order to be fulfilled…except I could always ‘use’ another hockey puck for my collection....

Sure, there are things that catch my eye and spark my interests; sports, art, gardening, tools, and even clothing and shoes. I especially am fond of stores that carry antiques and unusual items.

So, if I was to feel the need to covet anything (besides another hockey puck) it would be for an old weathervane to either install on the top of my garage or hang in my house. I know that I have the skills to make one, but there is something about one that is well worn and weathered.

A weathervane is a revolving pointer typically mounted on top of a building. Its main purpose is to show the direction of the wind. Weather vanes come in various designs and sizes and have been used since ancient times. Some are equipped with ‘directionals’ or ‘pointers’ calibrated to point to true north.

BUT, because not all weather vanes have pointers, some of them are little more than decorations that move with every shifting wind; providing no clear direction for anyone. To get real direction one would use a compass, not a weathervane.

A compass, on the other hand, is an instrument for determining directions by means of a freely rotating magnetized needle that indicates magnetic north. If it is working, it ALWAYS

points to the true north and doesn’t move with every shifting wind.

Can you imagine if we used weathervanes as instruments for travel (like you would use MapQuest); especially ones that had no pointers calibrated to point to true north?

Listen, if your goal is to get to Dallas, Texas and you are traveling North on Interstate 35E looking at a weathervane telling you that all is right; you’re still wrong!

And, it really doesn’t matter whether you are going seventy or forty miles per hour or whether you are driving a car or a truck; you are going the wrong direction and will never reach your destination. You need to go another direction.

What do you look at to determine what is happening in this world; a weathervane or a compass? Do you look to someone or something that moves with every shifting wind; perhaps not even pointing to what really is north?

Remember, weathervanes not calibrated to true North are merely decorations; and I would say the same is true of people who have no calibration; they are mere decorations that move with every shifting wind; “weather-vains”.

So, is there really someone or something that can point you in the right direction? Is there someone or something that is so calibrated that you can put your confidence in?

 

For me, Jesus is the only One who fits this description. He ALONE is The One who always points us to “true north”. Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. He said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:5-6). It is to Him I look to find my TRUE direction in my life. I find it in His Word, the Bible. His WORD is “is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105)

We need to read the Bible so that we are “no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:14)

And so that we can “Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

Be careful that what you are following isn’t merely decoration; a weather-vain” Watch out; you may be standing on shaky ground.

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."