During the American space program, what was NASA’s goal for a flight?
Was it to launch a rocket? If so, they’d rejoice once it blasted off and then they’d call it a day. The rocket’s up, program’s over!
Land a man on the moon? If that were the case, they’d celebrate the first time someone stepped on the lunar landscape and then they’d forget all about the astronauts. Mission accomplished?
Return the crew to Earth alive and well? That’s more like it! But the key here lies in the word “return.” Had NASA merely wanted the astronauts on terra firma, they’d have never launched them into the cosmos in the first place. Why bother? They were already here! No need to build costly spacecrafts for dangerous missions!
NASA wanted the astronauts back on Earth, safe and sound, but only after they’d flown in space and landed on the moon. Why send them? Because the scientists sought to learn what the astronauts would discover. A wealth of life-changing knowledge lay out there; someone had to volunteer to go out and bring it all back.
The astronauts returned with rock samples, photos and videos, and test results of various kinds. But they came back with something else: experience. They’d traveled in space and some of them even stood on the moon. How can that not change a person?
“Return” implies a trip back to where you started. But you don’t always come back the same. You’re still you, but not quite. You’re different now–you know more, you’ve collected more, and the journey has transformed you. People say you’ve come full circle, but it’s more like a spiral. You travel back to where you began but you arrive at a higher level.
The ultimate goal of the space program was to return the astronauts to Earth so that they might share everything they learned. To achieve that required setting and meeting intermediate goals. Build rockets that can escape the Earth’s gravity. Design space suits that can keep astronauts alive. Develop communications technologies that can keep explorers and engineers in contact with each other.
The goals of the space program illustrate God’s plans. What’s God’s ultimate goal for His creation? For you? What lesser goals does He pursue to reach the primary one?
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus. Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets.” – Acts 3:19-21
To repent means to change your mind and adopt a new way of thinking. To turn from your sin and acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord. Repentance starts your spiritual adventure, but there’s more.
When you repent, turn to God, and receive His forgiveness, you feel refreshed. As the Bible promises, you become a new creation in Christ.
All these steps lead to God’s ultimate goal. He intends to send Jesus back to Earth. Christ will return and when He does, He will restore everything. All the beauty, love, and joy that we long for will be released. It’s God’s ultimate goal!
How do you see God’s goals for your life being realized? Have you turned from sin and turned to Jesus? Has His Spirit renewed your soul and your circumstances? Do you serve Him? And do you await Christ’s second coming, when righteousness and peace will rule this planet?
For NASA, the safe return of their astronauts, brimming with information and insights, was their ultimate goal. For the Christian, the glorious return of Jesus Christ, overflowing with blessings, is ours.
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