Drifting Towards A Shipwreck
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
Recently I went on a camping solo trip to a Provincial Park in Northern Ontario. While there, I had the opportunity to rent a motor boat so I could do some fishing on a lake that is acclaimed for its abundance of pike, walleye and perch. One day I was out on the boat in an area of the lake where I hadn't been before, but was told about a few good spots there to explore. I was trolling slowly by an island when all of a sudden the motor cut out. Immediately I reeled in my line and went to work trying to restart the motor, to no avail. I pulled the pull cord multiple times. I switched on the choke. I checked the gas tank to make sure the valve was open to allow air into the tank. Nothing I tried did the trick and at that point I looked up, only to see that I had rapidly drifted away from the island where I had been before and at the pace I was going, it wouldn't be long before I'd be carried by the wind into a rocky shoreline.
A Lesson About Drifting
It was at that moment I learned a lesson about drifting: that it doesn't take long for you to drift very far in a very short period of time, especially when you are distracted and not paying attention. Instead of fiddling with the motor, I could have taken out the paddle, but I got distracted and thus the boat got carried away far from where I had started.
But drifting isn't a phenomenon exclusively to boats on the water. We are capable of drifting in our jobs, our relationships and in our faith. The Bible actually warns us to be on our guard against drifting in our faith. Hebrews 2:1 teaches us:
"So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it." Hebrews 2:1
The moment we stop paying attention to our faith and feeding ourselves regularly with the truth and apply it to our lives, we can start to drift. At first we might not even notice, but the further we drift, the more it changes us. Where once we would have never partaken in that sin or would have repented immediately if we did so, now it doesn't seem like such a big deal and we return to it with no remorse time and time again. Where once we would have never stopped reading our Bible on a daily basis, now we don't notice when we go a week without it. Where once we would have never made a decision without saturating it in prayer and seeking God for direction, now we follow our own whims and what "feels right" and we're okay with it.
Elsewhere in the New Testament, our faith is compared to being about a vessel on the water when we are warned in 1 Timothy 1:19 to:
"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." 1 Timothy 1:19
Avoiding A Shipwreck
If we want to avoid being shipwrecked, we need to make sure we never allow ourselves to drift in our faith. I believe drifting can be avoided in two ways. First of all, by being intentional. If we have our eyes fixed on a direction, like pursuing and following Jesus, and we keep our eyes fixed on that goal, we are going to start to notice if we drift away from him and towards the things of this world. And secondly I believe we can avoid drifting by avoiding distractions. Had I not been distracted by fiddling with the motor, I would have noticed right away that I was drifting. In the same way, if we fill our lives with distractions that keep our hearts and minds cluttered and full, it's going to be a lot harder to notice minor drifts in direction. Our faith should never be competing with other things for our attention. It needs to come first and foremost, every single day. If we fix our eyes on Jesus, our vision won't become clouded by sin and the things of this world. Hebrews 12:1-2 reads,
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." Hebrews 12:1-2
If you're reading or hearing this and you feel like you've been drifting in your faith and you want to get back on track right here and right now, here are three things I learned about what to do when drifting that can help you get back to where you need to be.
1. DROP THE ANCHOR
First of all, drop the anchor. When I was drifting in that boat, the moment I realized that I was going off course and headed towards rocks, the first thing I did was to drop the anchor to stop my drift. So if you know you're drifting in your faith, stop right now and do whatever you have to do to make sure you stop drifting further away. Whether that's cancelling your social media accounts, breaking off a dating relationship, quitting a job or cancelling a subscription. You can't change how far you've drifted, but you can stop yourself from going further, so do what needs to be done so you don't get any closer to a shipwreck than you already are.
2. ASK FOR HELP
Secondly, ask for help. You might have drifted on your own, but most of us need help to get back on track. Without the help of two very kind park employees, I would still be sitting out in the boat in the middle of the lake. But they didn't just show up out of no where. I had to call the park office and ask for help. Asking for help might require swallowing pride, but asking for help and helping others who are drifting is exactly the kind of Christianity the Bible calls us to live out. James 5:19-20 teaches us:
"My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins." James 5:19-20
Sometimes we might be the one called to help someone get back on track and sometimes we have to put our pride aside and be the one asking for help, but there's no shame in that. You will never move to where you should be in your faith quickly without the assistance of other people. We weren't made to journey through the life of faith on our own, so invite others to travel alongside you and learn to ask for help when you need it.
3. PREPARE TO JUMP SHIP
Finally, if the situation calls for it, prepare to jump ship. The only way for me to get back home was to get out of the boat I was in and into the boat that came to rescue me. Was this a comfortable experience? No. It required putting my trust in the two guys trying to hold the boats alongside each other so I could get out of the one boat and into the other, hopefully without falling into the water, but it's what the situation required. If you're drifting in a sinking ship, instead of wasting time trying to turn your drowning dingy into a stable vessel while fighting the waves, you might have to leave that boat behind for the safety that another offers.
Making drastic changes like these can be scary, but so is staying into a boat that is drifting towards a shipwreck. Our faith and our relationship with Jesus is the most important thing in our lives, so isn't abandoning anything else worth the cost? No job, relationship, sin, habit or routine is worth shipwrecking our faith. If you're adrift and a shipwreck of your faith is inevitable, abandon ship. And if you are looking for a safe ship to jump into when you abandon your old sinking vessel, the search should start and stop with a local church. The Bible very clearly teaches us that by being equipped by our leaders in the local church we will mature in our Faith and won't be tossed and blown about in our faith and in regards to the truth. More on that in Ephesians chapter four. So find a local church body and jump aboard, allowing yourself to fully engage and become a part of the local body of Christ. So that "we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church." Ephesians 4:15
Shipwrecking our faith isn't inevitable and it can be avoided by noticing when we are drifting, dropping anchor, asking for help and abandoning ship when necessary.
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