Navigate By Example

1st Peter 2:21
My wife can send me to the corner store, and there's a good chance I'll find it. Any farther than that, and I'm almost guaranteed to make a wrong turn or two. I have never had a very good sense of direction on my own. However, give me a compass and a good map and there's no place on the face of the globe I can't find. In the Army, you quickly learn to appreciate the usefulness of maps. They are not only incredibly detailed and accurate instruments of navigation, but also indispensable and crucial to your survival, and to the completion of your mission. A good map will tell you, in graphical form, everything you need to know about the area through which you are traveling. They will show you the elevation and contour of the landscape, along with the paths, trails, roads, highways, railways, and water ways that intersect the territory. They will show you the location of buildings, towers, mines, schools, churches, airports, and wells. Maps will even provide you with a numerical grid system to assist you in notating, locating, and in traveling to and from any point within the maps region. In short, maps are meant to direct and guide us throughout a specified region.

Now, for a long time I have believed that the Bible is best viewed as a map; one that illustrates for us everything we need to know about traveling through a sinful world, as sinful people, before a Holy God. From it we can see, in living form, all the valleys, pitfalls, mountains, roadways and dead ends that travel through life's region. Most of all, we can see through Christ's example how to overcome these obstacles. Peter writes, "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps (1st Peter 2:21)." There are a number of words in the Greek that are translated as "example", however, Peter uses the word upogrammoV (pronounced hupo-grammos), which literally translates to "under writing". This is the only usage of the word found in the New Testament and its usage here, in my opinion, is quite significant. A hupogrammos was a device used by young Greek boys who were learning to write. It was a clay tablet from which the teacher would etch along the top the letters of the Greek alphabet. The students would trace the letters with their writing instruments, following the grooves and learning from the example etched out for them how to write the letters for themselves. After tracing the letters the young students would then etch the letters on their own, still using the etching at the top of the tablet as an example. Our journey through life is full of pitfalls, valleys, mountains and other obstacles that challenge every facet of our lives daily, but praise the Lord that Jesus Christ is our "hupogrammos;" our example etched in jars of clay (2nd Corinthians 4:7), and hidden in the hearts of all that seek Him. This all-surpassing power directs us through His word as we travel as strangers in a most unfamiliar and hostile territory. He has set the example for us to follow. Like lines on a map, He has illustrated clearly how to avoid the difficulties that might hinder our mission. Life is a journey, and we are but sojourners passing through. Get into His word, follow the grooves, and lean not on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6), but instead learn how to safely navigate by His example. [mp]

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Michael D'Urbano
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