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“A Shipwrecked Faith”
Categories: Minister's Corner“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” – 1 Timothy 1:18-20
Let’s do word association for a moment. What do you associate these words with … port, starboard, bow/stern, helm, keel, heeling, tack, jibe, windward, leeward, lines, mainsail, and jib? You’re right, BOATS and SAILING! I want to admit that I know absolutely nothing about sailing. I had to look up terms associated with sailing so we could play this lovely word association game.
As you are aware, sailing has been an essential part of our world and especially in exploration for thousands of years. We have stories in our Bibles about sailing. In one story, (a real-life event), God saves 8 people on a big boat and destroys the whole world with water. In another true story, a man is thrown off a boat into the sea and is
swallowed by a whale. It really happened!
Mariners often are shipwrecked in the deep. This certainly happened to the apostle Paul 3 times and on one of those occasions he was shipwrecked at sea and stayed a night and a day in the deep waters (Acts 11:25). Can you imagine that? Many would perish at the perils of the open waters.
Against this backdrop, Paul says that some Christians have made shipwreck of their faith. They have gotten off course, run aground, and are stranded with potential of losing their spiritual life. Can you imagine being lost
forever? Sadly, some will experience this fate.
Let’s stay on course with our faith and with the blessed hope of arrival at the intended destination so that we can see the Captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:10).
