A wheelhouse is a structure enclosing a large steering-wheel, a pilot-house or the paddle-box of a steam-boat.  Wheelhouses are small spaces with excellent visibility, where the skipper is in control of the boat and prepared to face any dangers that he might encounter.  Today this term is used in business to refer to the expertise of a company or the customer market where a company’s product or service is best received.  This term is also used in baseball to refer to the part of an individual’s swinging range in which as a hitter they can make the best contact with the ball.  If a pitch is right in your wheelhouse it is right where you want it, in the “sweet” spot where you have the best chance of hitting it well.  Applied to a person, a wheelhouse defines my area of expertise, my skill and my reasoning that I use to steer the vessel that I call “self”.

Steering from the wheelhouse of our expertise comes naturally, we are born with a desire for self preservation, a desire to live comfortably, eat well and be loved.  A baby’s wheelhouse is limited to crying in order to get what he desires but thank goodness in addition to the birth of the baby comes God’s love for the baby that is born into the hearts of the parents.  This is a great arrangement of joy and blessing and that is why people with the poorest of means have so many children because they understand that children are a blessing from God and their way out of poverty and misery.  As the child grows, he learns what things interest him and what things he is good at doing and what things he’s not too good at doing.  This process of discovering our talents is good because God gives us talents in order that we will use them to give Him glory.  And this my friend is where the problem lies, we want to be the captain of our wheelhouse and use our talents and expertise to steer the course of our destiny for our glory but what we don’t understand is that without allowing God to be the captain of our wheelhouse, we are essentially steering a vessel without a rudder, a ship that is merely drifting along in the current of the world which ends in death!  Without God we are like a ship on the Niagara River, drifting unaware toward the falls of death that lie ahead.

What we need to do is leave the wheelhouse of self and enter the wheelhouse of God’s grace, not only will this keep you from going over the falls of death but from within God’s wheelhouse you can experience the joy of the journey along the way.  Within the wheelhouse of God’s grace we have the assurance of eternal life with Christ Jesus and the purpose of a new life in Christ Jesus.  We enter the wheelhouse of God’s grace through faith in Christ, and then our mission is to find others adrift in the world and to rescue them from the falls of death.  From withing the wheelhouse of God’s grace there is plenty of peace, joy and love to do His will, rescuing the perishing and “fellow-shipping” with fellow ships that are also steering within the wheelhouse of God’s grace, on a course to meet Jesus and enjoy Him forever!

– Rogersings

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