I love being told what to do. Life would be so much easier if someone would tell me who I could hang out with, what I should think about the world, and how I ought to go about my life. In short, I want my life to be black and white. I think many people would agree with this thought. If that’s the case, it would also be true that the “gray areas” of life make most people uneasy. They come to us like a dense fog that rolls over us as we approach the forks in the road of life. They force us to make decisions without being certain of the outcome. They remind us that we can’t see the future. Thankfully, we don’t need to. The Bible book of 1 John gives us two perfect navigator’s tools to guide us through these gray moments of life: the astrolabe of the Word and the compass of God’s love.

Before we even approach gray areas, we must first be reminded of what is true of the world. This is when we use the “astrolabe” of the Word. An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument that tells the time of day or night, determines a precise location on Earth, calculates dates and seasons, and determines what part of the sky will be visible at a given time. Just as an astrolabe uses a set place—such as the sun or a star—to expand humanity’s understanding of the world, John reminds us that the message preached by the Word made flesh (Jesus) expands our understanding of whether or not something actually comes from God (1 John 1:5).

Before Christ entered our hearts, we couldn’t tell the difference between light and dark. We were doomed to live in the darkness our sin had brought upon us. But out of love, the Son of God came to give us the light of life in exchange for the darkness of death. Because of his resurrection, the light of the Morning Star now shines in our hearts to know, love, and do his will (2 Peter 1:19). No matter where we are taken in life, we know where we stand before our heavenly Father.

This gives us confidence to “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:7), especially when we enter the gray areas of life. This is where the “compass” of God’s love comes in handy. Just as a compass always points toward magnetic north and allows users to determine which direction they are facing, the love God has bestowed upon us not only points us to the true source of love—“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16)—but also allows us to love in more profound ways, not simply “with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

If God wants us to draw near to him, Satan wants us to get as far away from him as possible. He will use the uncertainties of life to scare us into relying on our own senses to navigate the world, to look to ourselves to find our way through life. Yet if this is our plan when the fog of uncertainty comes, we will find ourselves walking in circles, coming back to the same place we started—lost in the darkness of our sin.

Don’t be led astray. Rejoice that you have been found! You don’t have to depend on your own faulty devices. You shine with Jesus’ righteousness. God delights to take you by the hand and lead you through all the gray areas of life to expose the darkness hidden within this world. Even though you may not know what lies at the end of the road, you already know where you will end up—in triumphant victory by our Lord’s side in heaven: “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4,5).

When life isn’t as clear-cut as you would like it to be, depend on the Word and God’s love. Pray for God to let his light guide your decisions, because “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). Walk through life with confidence, for “whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21).