Perseveration.

This is a brain condition that causes people to get stuck in a particular pattern of behavior. Perseveration is what led a German pilot named Manfred von Richthofen, the legendary World War I ace known as The Red Baron, to pursue a British pilot far beyond the limits of safe flying and prudent dogfighting. On April 21, 1918, he flew his red Fokker triplane straight into enemy airspace, allowing aircraft and ground fire to cut his plane to ribbons and kill him with a bullet to the chest.

“He had target fixation and a mental rigidity.” So says clinical psychologist Daniel Orme. The Red Baron “flew into a shooting gallery, violating all kinds of rules of flying -- rules from the manual that he himself wrote.”

According to The Washington Post (September 20, 2004), perseveration is a brain dysfunction that causes people to persist in a task – to carry on in a completely illogical way, even when the chosen strategy is doomed and could lead to death. The Red Baron wasn’t born with this condition -- in fact, for most of his career he was a careful fighter. He achieved 80 kills, more than any other World War I pilot. But he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a dogfight nine months before his death, and researchers now believe that this caused his dysfunction to develop.

Today, the Air Force would have made him DNIF – Duties Not to Include Flying. But in 1918, his headaches, air sickness and fatigue were ignored. The Red Baron kept on flying, until that April day when he drove himself straight to his death. (Guy Gugliotta, “’Red Baron’s’ Fatal Fixation,” The Washington Post, September 20, 2004, A6).

Perseveration can be a problem for us as well, even if we don’t get injured in dogfights and shot up in enemy airspace. Fatal fixations can pop up in our work, our parenting, our friendships, and our faith lives, causing us to pursue strategies that are doomed and even disastrous.

Think of fathers who work like slaves to provide for their families, only to put in such long and exhausting hours that they end up with little of themselves to give to their family members. It’s a fatal fixation, one I know that I can get stuck in.

Or think of women who put tremendous time and energy into their children’s activities, only to become so immersed in kid-stuff that they fail to be good adult role models.

Or friends who talk endlessly about themselves and others – analyzing, criticizing, and ultimately destroying the very friendships that are the subject of their conversations.

Or Christians who put such effort into being righteous that they end up being self-righteous – and alienating the very people that need to hear the gospel. Nothing’s a bigger turn-off than self-righteous folks who, in the words of Oscar Wilde, air their clean laundry in public.

These are all examples of perseveration -- patterns of behavior that are doomed and dangerous, but so easy to get stuck in. Like The Red Baron chasing after an enemy airplane, we plow ahead with the conviction that we are going in the right direction, but then we find ourselves trapped in enemy airspace, shot through the heart.

What can we do to avoid these fatal fixations?

In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul is determined to show us how to move from death to new life, and from sin to righteousness. He is aware that many of us are still stuck in doomed and dangerous patterns, and he wants us to break free of anything that can hurt or destroy us. So he begins with the question, “How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” (Romans 6:2).

It’s a good question.

How is it possible for us to persist in sinful behavior, now that we are baptized followers of Jesus? Paul insists that our baptism in Christ Jesus was a baptism into his death, and he says that since Christ was raised from the dead then we too have been raised to “walk in newness of life” (vv. 3-4). It really doesn’t make any sense for us to go on sinning, since our old sinful life is now dead, and our new resurrection life has begun.

Problem is, we still sin. We plow ahead with our fatal fixations, traveling in dangerous directions that lead to serious sinfulness. Men who focus on work instead of family can fall easily into adultery. Women who obsess over their children can lose their sense of identity and purpose. Friends can destroy themselves and others with gossip, and Christians can poison the good news of the gospel with self-righteous attitudes.

So much for “newness of life.”

Paul is enough of a realist to see that we are not completely free of sin. If we have been united with Christ in a death like his, he says, “we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (v. 5). Paul is still looking to the future, knowing that the full glory of resurrection life is not a present reality – it still lies off in the distance, like a beautiful oasis on the horizon. We’re on the road to the resurrection, for sure, but we haven’t quite reached the point where we can put the car in park and relax, knowing that we’ve finally arrived.

The good news for us today is that we’re moving in the right direction. In fact, we’ve already crossed the border, and have left the world of death and sin behind us. Biblical scholar N.T. Wright points out that Paul’s question “Should we continue in sin?” is best understood if you think of it as being similar to the question “Should we remain in France?” Now don’t misunderstand – he’s not saying that the country of France is particularly sinful, despite what you might hear on Rush Limbaugh. He’s simply saying that if we don’t want to remain in France, then we don’t have to speak French anymore. And if we don’t want to continue in sin, then we aren’t forced to sin anymore.

The point is this: Christ has evacuated us from the world of sin and death, so we are no longer “enslaved to sin” (v. 6). It’s as though we’ve been airlifted out of France, so now we don’t have to begin every day with “Bonjour.” Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are free to speak a new language and enjoy a whole new quality of life. We have been freed from our fatal fixations and our sinful orientations, and we can now walk in newness of life.

For you fathers -- on Father’s Day, and every day -- this means that you don’t have to be a slave to the office. Come home at night. Listen to your wife. Play with your kids. Focus on your family. At the end of the day, your children won’t know how much money you made. But they’ll know how much attention you gave them.

And mothers, you don’t have to be a slave to your kids. Develop your talents. Do meaningful work. Deepen your adult relationships. What your children need most is a healthy, happy mother – one who can be a good role model to them.

You friends out there, you don’t have to focus on your social standing any more. There’s no reason to waste so much time on gossip. Look outward, into the community, and put some energy into serving the world around you, instead of always talking about the people around you. You’ll be amazed by how much you grow inwardly by looking outwardly.

And Christians …yes, that’s all of us. The key to righteousness is being in a right relationship with Jesus Christ, the one who died so that we might live. Since Jesus has removed us from the land of sin and death, and started us down the road to resurrection life, then the only response we can make is one of thanks and praise. There’s no room for self-righteousness. There’s no place for judgmental attitudes. There’s no opportunity for condemnation.

There’s only thanks – thanks to Jesus for making us “dead to sin and alive to God” (v. 11). Jesus has given us this amazing gift of forgiveness and new life, and he asks us simply to trust in him. Instead of self-righteousness, let’s show the world some Christ-righteousness. Instead of a judgmental attitude, let’s exhibit some Christian gratitude. Instead of condemning others, let’s lead them in a new direction.

It’s clear that The Red Baron flew into a shooting gallery and was blown apart because he couldn’t see anything but his target. He had a fatal fixation, one that prevented him from saving his own life by simply turning around.

Sometimes that’s all it takes: A willingness to change direction. Make a u-turn. Or, as the Bible says: Repent.

We can save our own lives, and the lives of others, by turning around. The power of sinful perseveration has been broken by Jesus, and he invites us to join him on resurrection ground, on that place where sin and death have been replaced by grace and new life.

We are now dead to sin and alive to God. Don’t fixate on anything else. Amen.