Several years ago I had an experience as a flight instructor that reminded me of the importance of perspective. I was giving a "check ride" (a flight evaluation) to a fellow pilot in a simulator. We normally had two students being evaluated at a time but on this occasion, there was another instructor filling in as a seat support for the captain's position. So the student was the first officer and he was getting all the attention, and on this particular day, he was not performing up to the highest standards. In one of the most difficult scenarios he was struggling with the engine out sequence and we had to repeat the event twice before I felt that he demonstrated proficiency.
During the debrief for the first officer I stressed the importance of being prepared for all scenarios in the actual aircraft for the very reason that if indeed something went wrong, there would be no chance to make a reset and do it again like we had done in the simulator. After all, aircraft can be very unforgiving at times. He was apologetic and compliant and I felt he had made a rededication to proficiency at all times. But, while I was debriefing the student I noticed that the other instructor I had worked with that day stayed behind and was pacing about outside the debriefing room, looking in at me a couple of times with concern and consternation. He had a different perspective on the student's performance and thought he should have been failed and brought back in for remedial training. After conferring with the other instructor I decided to go to the manager to get his perspective of what he would have done.
The perspective of the manager was very similar to the other instructor and I began to see the reason why. We all had previously been military pilots before we joined the ranks of civilian aviation. The fellow instructor that day had been a Marine fighter pilot, the manager had been a Navy fighter pilot and a fighter squadron commanding officer, and I had been a Navy anti-submarine pilot. Both the fighter pilots had been trained to be very aggressive in their approach to aviation, and this came through in their perspective as instructors. I too had the same basic primary flight training but applied that training to a land-based multi-engine turboprop aircraft, which was very similar to the type of aviation we now flew in our current civilian jobs. The student that day had been a civilian pilot which may have contributed to his difficulty in engine-out training. Each of our perspectives was shaped by our experiences and we all came to different conclusions at that time.
Our perspectives in life are like this and heavily influenced by our conditioning and backgrounds. We all have different personalities and priorities as some people are introverts and others extroverts. Some want instant results and others need to consider every angle. There are differences in age and technology, who would consider walking a mile to ask a friend a question if we could simply pick up a phone and call them? Who even would keep a landline now that we have cell phones? There are differences in perspectives from gender, male, and female, and from dads and moms, grandparents and grandchildren. There are people who love woodworking and those who love reading books on philosophy. Some people have the perspective that we must always be aggressive in defending our freedom in our country because "freedom isn't free". Other people believe that war and fighting are inherently evil, and that aggression just provokes more aggression, but if we could all just love one another it would foster love in return.
Those of us who hold a Christian perspective come into our faith with the same diversity of perspectives of experiences, priorities, desires, beliefs, talents, development, gender, and even family conditioning, traditions, and loyalties. The big question we need to ask is what is God's perspective? To ask this we see the flip side of the coin in the question of what is our perspective? And are we putting our perspectives ahead of God's, or are we putting his perspectives ahead of ours? Even more, which doctrine of God do we believe is the most important? Is the chief doctrine the grace of God, or the truth of God, and are these being affected by our own perspectives and biases?
Christians have an obligation to know the truth of God as he truly is, and not just as we prefer him to be. We often need our own perspectives to be examined as we all are finite. Our perspectives are limited and we need to always compare them to the truth of the Bible. To know this truth we must first establish the truth of truth itself from which we can then compare any other truth. From a truth perspective, we can teach all doctrines of Scripture and not let our perspectives and priorities become greater than God's perspectives and priorities. Christian leaders in particular must proclaim God's truth for the health and sanctification of the church in our secularistic culture.
I believe the truth of God must be our highest priority in this way to prioritize all doctrines correctly. Truth can guide us in understanding even the grace of God, which so often becomes the priority in a broken world. If we make love our primary perspective then the truth of God can be lost as we can become like the world in its philanthropy and humanitarianism. And the world can be very unforgiving at times. But with truth as our priority, the grace of Christ can never be lost as it is the truth of the gospel. We need to continually ask what God's truth is therefore so that we can evaluate our perspective to his, and so that we can bring the whole truth of Christ into the world.
The truth of God also brings a transformation from our sinful nature and helps us from falling into any self-righteousness as it always appeals to Christ's humility and righteousness. This truth-centeredness glorifies God for Christ is the one who is true at all times. He is the one who declares in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes unto the Father, except through me." The truth of God always includes the grace of Christ to the glory of God, and this is why I believe truth is the priority.
During the debrief for the first officer I stressed the importance of being prepared for all scenarios in the actual aircraft for the very reason that if indeed something went wrong, there would be no chance to make a reset and do it again like we had done in the simulator. After all, aircraft can be very unforgiving at times. He was apologetic and compliant and I felt he had made a rededication to proficiency at all times. But, while I was debriefing the student I noticed that the other instructor I had worked with that day stayed behind and was pacing about outside the debriefing room, looking in at me a couple of times with concern and consternation. He had a different perspective on the student's performance and thought he should have been failed and brought back in for remedial training. After conferring with the other instructor I decided to go to the manager to get his perspective of what he would have done.
The perspective of the manager was very similar to the other instructor and I began to see the reason why. We all had previously been military pilots before we joined the ranks of civilian aviation. The fellow instructor that day had been a Marine fighter pilot, the manager had been a Navy fighter pilot and a fighter squadron commanding officer, and I had been a Navy anti-submarine pilot. Both the fighter pilots had been trained to be very aggressive in their approach to aviation, and this came through in their perspective as instructors. I too had the same basic primary flight training but applied that training to a land-based multi-engine turboprop aircraft, which was very similar to the type of aviation we now flew in our current civilian jobs. The student that day had been a civilian pilot which may have contributed to his difficulty in engine-out training. Each of our perspectives was shaped by our experiences and we all came to different conclusions at that time.
Our perspectives in life are like this and heavily influenced by our conditioning and backgrounds. We all have different personalities and priorities as some people are introverts and others extroverts. Some want instant results and others need to consider every angle. There are differences in age and technology, who would consider walking a mile to ask a friend a question if we could simply pick up a phone and call them? Who even would keep a landline now that we have cell phones? There are differences in perspectives from gender, male, and female, and from dads and moms, grandparents and grandchildren. There are people who love woodworking and those who love reading books on philosophy. Some people have the perspective that we must always be aggressive in defending our freedom in our country because "freedom isn't free". Other people believe that war and fighting are inherently evil, and that aggression just provokes more aggression, but if we could all just love one another it would foster love in return.
Those of us who hold a Christian perspective come into our faith with the same diversity of perspectives of experiences, priorities, desires, beliefs, talents, development, gender, and even family conditioning, traditions, and loyalties. The big question we need to ask is what is God's perspective? To ask this we see the flip side of the coin in the question of what is our perspective? And are we putting our perspectives ahead of God's, or are we putting his perspectives ahead of ours? Even more, which doctrine of God do we believe is the most important? Is the chief doctrine the grace of God, or the truth of God, and are these being affected by our own perspectives and biases?
Christians have an obligation to know the truth of God as he truly is, and not just as we prefer him to be. We often need our own perspectives to be examined as we all are finite. Our perspectives are limited and we need to always compare them to the truth of the Bible. To know this truth we must first establish the truth of truth itself from which we can then compare any other truth. From a truth perspective, we can teach all doctrines of Scripture and not let our perspectives and priorities become greater than God's perspectives and priorities. Christian leaders in particular must proclaim God's truth for the health and sanctification of the church in our secularistic culture.
I believe the truth of God must be our highest priority in this way to prioritize all doctrines correctly. Truth can guide us in understanding even the grace of God, which so often becomes the priority in a broken world. If we make love our primary perspective then the truth of God can be lost as we can become like the world in its philanthropy and humanitarianism. And the world can be very unforgiving at times. But with truth as our priority, the grace of Christ can never be lost as it is the truth of the gospel. We need to continually ask what God's truth is therefore so that we can evaluate our perspective to his, and so that we can bring the whole truth of Christ into the world.
The truth of God also brings a transformation from our sinful nature and helps us from falling into any self-righteousness as it always appeals to Christ's humility and righteousness. This truth-centeredness glorifies God for Christ is the one who is true at all times. He is the one who declares in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes unto the Father, except through me." The truth of God always includes the grace of Christ to the glory of God, and this is why I believe truth is the priority.
No comments:
Post a Comment