Winds of spiritual deception can quickly blow us off course. When we least suspect it we can find ourselves down dead-end tributaries, in perilous waters or marooned on some island of isolation. As John Bunyan reminds us in his "Pilgrim's Progress" it is easy to turn off the correct path to the Celestial City because we are tempted by a promised shortcut through an attractive "Bypass Meadow".

Not all visions are created equal. If our personally 'envisioned future' does not line up with that which we know to be prescribed by our Maker, we are on a course headed for disillusionment. It would serve us well to enter into voluntary disillusionment by choosing to rid ourselves as soon as possible from as much as can be discerned as 'illusory'.

How can we discern? Consult a trustworthy map and check your coordinates. Our goal must not fall short of God's pleasure. Our destination must remain uncompromised. The word 'career' comes from a Medieval Latin word meaning 'carriage path'. Our ultimate path is to meet our Creator. We should all heed the words of the prophet Amos, "Prepare to meet your God."

Jesus gave us three coordinates to ensure that we are on the true path of sanctification - the truth revealed in Scriptures, the truth revealed in Himself and the truth that is witnessed to by His Spirit. Each one of these work together in alignment with the other. All three coordinates are to be considered as we seek to stay on track.

Jesus prayed to his father saying, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." (John 17:17 NIV). When the apostles Paul and Silas went to preach Christ in the Berean synagogues, Luke makes a special note: "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11 NIV). All revelations and spiritual experience must be tested by the objective witness of the written word.

Jesus said that He Himself is the truth: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 NIV). He Himself is the coordinate with which all that claims to be true must be aligned. If it is not true of Jesus, it is not true.

Jesus also spoke of a subjective witness that would be given to believers: the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth. "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13 NIV). "As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him." (1John 2:27 NIV).

Many have said, "I climbed the ladder of success only to realize that my ladder was leaning on the wrong wall." Ask yourself, "Is my personally envisioned future in line with what is revealed in Christ, the Word, and by the Spirit as being my true purpose in life?" If you cannot imagine Jesus engaged in the things you are engaging with, if your actions are inconsistent with His character, if your purposes are not in alignment with His, then choose to forsake your current path and return to what you know to be true.