Follow Your GPS to Avoid a Shipwrecked Faith

Josh continues to improve and they are telling us that they will release him tomorrow (Monday) around noon. He has an optometrist appointment in the afternoon, and then we can bring him home for a week.

Over the last few months I have written about faith numerous times along this journey. It has been a central theme since many of the decisions we have faced involve who or what our faith is in. We have been candid about our faith journey through the times of testing and trials and we acknowledge that we have not always kept our faith.

As we have walked this journey, we have relied on information given to us from other sources. Faith is about believing what we hear or read and then making decision or taking action based on that belief. If I read about a sale going on down at the store, I may act on that by driving down to the store in anticipation of purchasing something at a discount. If I arrive at the store and the sale is not going on, either the store was dishonest or I may have misunderstood the flier.

We have put our trust in doctors and nurses, we have sought council from friends and family when making decisions about our sons health care and we have placed our faith in some of those giving us information as we made the decisions. We knew almost nothing about Leukemia before Josh was diagnosed. We have researched the Internet and talked with medical professionals to increase our knowledge.

We have placed our faith in the doctors and nursed, based on the information we have heard or read. We have made decisions that have dramatically changed our lives, and will have an impact on us for the rest of our lives.

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul writes about faith. Paul provides information about God and challenges people to believe in God and to change the way they live based on this new information. Most people live with little regard for God. They may believe He exists (or deny He exists), but what they say they believe about God has little or no effect on how they live. Even people who call them selves religious, tend to structure their lives in a way that they can live the way they want most of the time, and then they do strategic things periodically to try to appease God.

But Paul writes about faith from a different perspective. Faith is not just a statement of belief, faith causes us to act in specific ways. If you believe that buying a new car will make you happy, you go out and buy a new car. If you believe that your employer will pay you for showing up to work and doing your job, you go to work when you are supposed to and do the things expected of you.

I grew up believing that Chevy's are better vehicles than Ford's (because my dad always bought Chevy's). I put faith in that belief by purchasing numerous Chevy's. I even violated that faith once when I bought a Ford van. It was a terrible vehicle, so it reinforced my belief that Chevy's were better.

Paul talks about violating our faith. He refers to it as shipwrecking our faith. He challenges Timothy to keep his conscious clear to avoid "shipwrecking" his faith (don't buy Ford's). Now in all fairness, I have friends that love Ford's. They believe that Ford stands for "First On Race Day" rather than "Found On Road Dead". But for my example about faith, when I chose to do something that is in opposition to what I believe to be true, I can sear or damage our conscience.

He writes in 1 Timothy 1:19


 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. 

We don't often make a big deal over the brand of cars that we buy. We don't even make an issue about the type of food we eat. We live with a world view that presumes that we can do as we please as long as we don't do anything to hurt someone else. But if that is true, we are putting our faith in ourselves which makes us our own god. If I am my own God, then technically, I can't violate my own rules, because I make the rules.

The problem is that I am not perfect, so some of my rules do hurt others. Only a perfect person can make rules that won't violate or hurt someone else.

So what then does it mean to shipwreck your faith?

I believe Paul is saying, when we know what is right, but choose to do something else, then we violate our conscience. When we do this regularly, we are essentially shifting our faith or misdirecting our faith which can lead to a shipwreck.

Have you ever wondered why a ship would run aground (or be shipwrecked)? Most shipwrecks happen because the ship is in water that is too shallow. They are off course and run aground on sandbars or coral reefs. Sometimes it is caused by a storm or poor visibility, but most of the time a shipwreck occurs because the ship is not where it is supposed to be.

Isn't that true of our lives. When we are not doing what God called us to do, when we make decisions that take us off course, we run aground. If the captain of the ship puts his faith in the wrong information, he can steer his ship into dangerous waters.

From experience, I can tell you that it is really easy to get off course. A small compromise, a little drifting in the wrong direction can result in being miles off course further down the line. How do you know if you are getting off course?

You have to have a guideline, a compass or a G.P.S. When hiking you have to follow the map and stay on the trail. If you don't have a road map to follow, you will most likely get off course. When driving someplace you are not familiar with, having a G.P.S. can help you get there without getting you lost. God gave us a road map for life. He gives us directions so that we can avoid the shallow waters, instructions on what to do when we get caught in a storm. He even gives us a road map to help us when we do get off course.

If we study that road map, if we are constantly referring to the navigational charts, then we can stay the course, avoid dangerous waters and reach our destination without running aground or getting lost.

Spend time regularly reading the road map that God gave us for life. When I spend time regularly reading the Bible, I find that I am more prepared for the unexpected turns in life. When I find myself caught in a storm or lost in an area of town I am not familiar with, by following the GPS, I can get back on track.

When I was kid we used to sing a little song that went "Read your Bible, pray everyday, and you'll grow, grow, grow". After 50 years of experience, I find that when I read my Bible and pray everyday, I stay out of the dangerous waters, I avoid being shipwrecked and my faith grows stronger.