A Sinking Ship
It was April 14, 1912, at about 11:40pm. Darkness was about to take on a whole new level. The Titanic hit an iceberg. Theoretically the ship was further south in the Atlantic than icebergs normally traveled, but the thought that the ship was unsinkable didn’t help. A gash was ripped in the side and water started to get inside the chambers. Less than three hours later it sank. Most of the people on board went down with it, a terrible tragedy. Recently, Rexanne and I went through the Titanic Museum in Branson and as is the custom, we were each given the name of someone that was onboard. Rexanne’s 27-year-old woman survived. My 7-year-old boy did not.
It’s been said that a sinking ship doesn’t sink because of the water that surrounds it, the ship sinks because of the water that gets inside. We should learn that lesson, even if not traveling on a huge ship on the ocean. Let’s make an application.
Jesus called the people to himself and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 7:14-16). His disciples would later pull him aside and ask the meaning of this parable, and he told them, “Are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person (food) cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach. What comes out of a person’s heart is what defiles him: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
And so, we ask: how do these evil things get inside a person, causing him or her to sink spiritually? “Do not be deceived,” said Paul to the Corinthians, “Bad company corrupts good morals” (I Cor. 15:33). The company we keep, the friends we spend time with, the things we participate with such people in doing, even if we start out on good moral ground, if they don’t share such morals, slowly their cultural thinking seeps into us and the ship begins to take on water. Sure, we need to have non-Christian friends, and we hope to have influence on them, but unless we are anchored in church and with a core group of friends who share our morals, our beliefs and reinforce them, the tendency is to slip the other way. To keep the ship afloat, be active in a good Bible believing church that provides some solid and mature friendships.
Are there other things that allow water into our spiritual ship? Certainly. What routines do we have that influence our thinking? Are we on social media all the time, and do we filter the junk it throws at us? How carefully do we screen the TV shows and movies that we watch? Are we bombarded by the politically motivated media that seeks to wake up our thinking to their values (the Woke Culture)? Do we enjoy games that make violence entertaining? Do we allow those solicit ads to tempt us to click on that profile by the attractive woman who wants to be our friend? We are surrounded by such things, and as long as the water stays outside the boat, we are safe, but once it gets inside, we start sinking. What are we doing to keep this metaphoric water outside of us?
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth…” (Hebrews 10:24-26)
Cross Point: This is no small thing; our salvation can be at stake. “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Heb. 10:39).
It’s been said that a sinking ship doesn’t sink because of the water that surrounds it, the ship sinks because of the water that gets inside. We should learn that lesson, even if not traveling on a huge ship on the ocean. Let’s make an application.
Jesus called the people to himself and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 7:14-16). His disciples would later pull him aside and ask the meaning of this parable, and he told them, “Are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person (food) cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach. What comes out of a person’s heart is what defiles him: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
And so, we ask: how do these evil things get inside a person, causing him or her to sink spiritually? “Do not be deceived,” said Paul to the Corinthians, “Bad company corrupts good morals” (I Cor. 15:33). The company we keep, the friends we spend time with, the things we participate with such people in doing, even if we start out on good moral ground, if they don’t share such morals, slowly their cultural thinking seeps into us and the ship begins to take on water. Sure, we need to have non-Christian friends, and we hope to have influence on them, but unless we are anchored in church and with a core group of friends who share our morals, our beliefs and reinforce them, the tendency is to slip the other way. To keep the ship afloat, be active in a good Bible believing church that provides some solid and mature friendships.
Are there other things that allow water into our spiritual ship? Certainly. What routines do we have that influence our thinking? Are we on social media all the time, and do we filter the junk it throws at us? How carefully do we screen the TV shows and movies that we watch? Are we bombarded by the politically motivated media that seeks to wake up our thinking to their values (the Woke Culture)? Do we enjoy games that make violence entertaining? Do we allow those solicit ads to tempt us to click on that profile by the attractive woman who wants to be our friend? We are surrounded by such things, and as long as the water stays outside the boat, we are safe, but once it gets inside, we start sinking. What are we doing to keep this metaphoric water outside of us?
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth…” (Hebrews 10:24-26)
Cross Point: This is no small thing; our salvation can be at stake. “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Heb. 10:39).
Posted in Cross Points