COCKPIT
BATTLE FOR CONTROL

Topics: Bondage; Choices; Depravity; God’s Will; Human Condition; Self-control; Self-discipline; Sin; Sinful Nature

References: Romans 7:14–25; 12:1–2; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22–24

On October 31, 1999, a full airplane took off from JFK International Airport in New York on a routine flight to Cairo, Egypt. Shortly after takeoff, the relief first officer waited for the pilot to leave the cockpit; then he disengaged the autopilot. He moved the throttle levers from cruise power to idle, cutting the engines. The airplane began to pitch nose-downward and then descended into a freefall.

In the final moments before impact, the horrified pilot dashed back to his seat and battled the copilot for control of the plane. The pilot pulled back on his controls, desperate to bring the nose of the Boeing 767 up, while the suicidal first officer pushed his own controls forward to keep the jet diving. EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. All 217 people aboard were killed.

The battle in that airliner’s cockpit is like the inner life of a Christian. Each day, we choose either to hijack control of our lives—plunging ourselves into sin—or to remain locked in the direction of God’s will.

—Jim Bennett, “A Fatal Loss of Control,” PreachingToday.com