Are You on Autopilot?

If you have played your sport long enough, you have probably gone through a season of “going through the motions.” This means you do the same things: work out, practice, watch film, play, etc., on autopilot. You are still doing what you need to do, but there is no passion or excitement behind it. If you stay on autopilot long enough, your coach or teammates will notice and won’t be pleased with your conduct.

In Psalm 51, David talks about this autopilot concept in His relationship with God. Animal sacrifices were a common way to show devotion to God in the Old Testament. Nowadays, we don’t need to offer sacrifices to God because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for us. We can think about Old Testament sacrifices as the works we do for God daily.

How often do we enter into autopilot when attending church, reading our Bible or worshiping? We can easily get caught doing the works for God without much passion or excitement. David reminds us that God desires our spirit and an open heart far more than He desires routine works without passion.

A broken spirit is simply a spirit and heart that is open and ready to make room for God. The opposite of a broken spirit is a spirit of stone. When we enter autopilot, our hearts can easily be turned to stone because nothing moves us toward genuine emotion or passion.

Let us desire a broken spirit so that God can come in and heal our hearts and set us on fire again.