The Jesus Nut
According to various sources:
Jesus nut is a slang term for the main rotor retaining nut or mast nut, which holds the main rotor to the mast of some helicopters. The related slang term Jesus pin refers to the lock pin used to secure the retaining nut. More generally, Jesus nut (or Jesus pin) is used to refer to any component that is a single point of failure and whose breakdown would result in catastrophic consequences, the suggestion being that in such case the only thing left to do would be to pray to Jesus. ...
... The nut/pin must be checked before the flight, even though real-world examples of the Jesus nut/pin failing are rare. For example, in 2000, the mast nut of a Bell 206B was removed to be repainted and was not restored and checked prior to a test flight. The helicopter crashed within ten minutes of takeoff, killing the two occupants.
*Some more recent helicopter systems are designed without a Jesus nut.
Whether you are a Christian who already knows the importance of the preeminence of Christ in your life, or an unbeliever who operates from the false premise that you can design your life to operate just fine without a Jesus nut, one thing is true: Absent the centrality of Christ in your life, you WILL crash and burn.
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 'Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing'" (John 15:4-5, NLT).
"For in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28, NIV).
Jesus Is Our Path
E. Stanley Jones tells of a missionary who got lost in an African jungle surrounded by nothing but bush and patchy clearings. He came upon a native and asked if he could guide him out. The native said he could.
"All right," said the missionary, "show me the way."
The native said, "Walk," so they walked and hacked their way through unmarked jungle for more than an hour.
The missionary grew concerned. "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?"
The native said, "Bwana, in this place, there is no path. I am the path."
In this crazy jungle of a world, there is no path. Jesus is our path.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
Finding Our Fixed Point
Studies have shown that if you blindfold a man and ask him to walk in a straight line, he will start out well but will soon begin to turn one way or another, looping around in ever tightening circles. It is a phenomenon that has been demonstrated over and over again: without a fixed reference point we cannot keep a straight line.
The strange thing is that it feels like we're walking in a straight line. But we begin to loop and curve erratically – without ever knowing it. We need a fixed point to walk a straight line.
Robert Kulwich, for NPR, observes, "Without a corrective, our insides take over and there's something inside us that won't stay straight."
[Studies of this phenomenon appear in Chris McManus' book, Right Hand, Left Hand, The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures (Phoenix, 2002).]
God’s word is that fixed point for our souls. Its truths are fixed – “forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Ps. 119:89). Thus, it gives us a safe and accurate reference point for our lives.
A person who rejects God’s word as the source of truth may feel like they’re on the right road – they’re going straight – but inevitably they go astray. The Bible says there is a way that seems right to a man (think they’re going straight) but the end thereof is death (Proverbs 14:12).
Amazingly, Jesus didn’t point people to the fixed point, he claimed to be the fixed point. Jesus didn’t say “I know the truth” or “I can point you to the truth”, he said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6)– He is the sun by which we navigate our lives, the star by which we guide our path. He is our fixed point.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2, BSB).