A ship without a rudder
“…So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. But we will be
shipwrecked on an island.”
Acts 27:25-26 (NLT)
The Apostle Paul was being transported to Rome as a prisoner to stand trial before Caesar. The ship he was in ran into a terrible storm that severely damaged the vessel.This left the crew wet, cold, frightened, and shivering. Those on board were driven to despair, awaiting their fate. They desperately needed a rescue operation, and they got it! Paul had a message for his waterlogged companions. He said to them, ‘Take courage! For I believe God.’ Paul was convinced that God would deliver them safely on land as he had promised.
Human beings without God are like a ship without a rudder, drifting at the mercy of the wind and waves: the wind of fallen society coupled with the swelling waves of a sinful nature. It is as if intelligent people know that their lifestyle is self-destructive and recognise the looming rocks laying in their path. Yet they steadfastly refuse to allow the heavenly engineer to fix the rudder. We need God’s intervention to save us from ourselves and to deliver us up from the ravages of our environment.
Fortunately, help is at hand. God, in Christ, has reached out to us in our drifting, precarious condition of sin, and is able to fix the rudder and set us on the spiritual course of safety. But first, like Paul, we must believe God! We must acknowledge our dependence upon him, and invite the Saviour of our souls to come alongside the desperately sinking ship that is our life; we must ask him to rescue us from the perils of the deep. Jesus was sent by the Father for this very purpose.
Prayer
Eternal Father, thank you for the sacrifice of your Son Jesus Christ. He came to earth to rescue us from the perils of sin and to guide us safely to the heavenly shore. In Jesus name. Amen.
Study by Dennis Payne
About the writer:
Dennis Payne is a Deacon in the Central London congregation of Grace Communion International.
Local congregation:
Grace Communion International
Central London
Indian YMCA Student Hostel
Mahatma Gandhi Hall
41 Fitzroy Square
London W1T 6AQ
Meeting time:
Saturday 2:30pm
Local congregational contact:
Barry Robinson
Email: london@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church