Can you think of something that you neglected to take proper care of, and as a result that thing became corrupted or destroyed?
Certain types of food can become old and bad if they are not kept cold. Milk and other dairy products, and meats especially need to be kept cold otherwise they will begin to spoil and need to be thrown away. I found this to be true as one time I left a bottle of chocolate milk out on a hot day, and by the time I remembered where I left it the milk had turned sour. I had neglected to put it away when I was done with it and it spoiled.
There are other things that get bad or corrupt if they are not taken care of as well. Metal boats if left in the salty ocean for months on end can begin to rust if they are not properly maintained. Clothes if left damp will begin to mold and rot, which is why it is important to make certain that they are dried fully when you put them into your dresser. Whatever a thing is, they need to be taken care of to ensure that they do not come to a ruin.
Which is exactly what some people can do to their faith if they do not take care to preserve it.
1 Timothy 1:18-19 “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:”
Like a bottle of milk that isn’t put away back into the fridge and spoils, some people can neglect to take care to keep their faith strong, letting their faith become “shipwrecked” as Paul put it to his letter to Timothy. Someone may start out strong in their faith, attending church, reading the scriptures, spending time in prayer and serving the Lord with their whole heart, but then let other things come in between them and their relationship with God. It may start by skipping a church gathering one weekend to go and do something else, and instead of going right back the next weekend they instead skip it again. And again, and again, getting farther and farther away from the faith that was once so strong inside them.
You know, sailors hundreds of years ago would sail the same waters many times, and they would know which areas were safe and other areas in which they might run ashore or into dangerous rocks. So they stuck to these same routes every time, knowing that if they strayed off of that path they would shipwreck their ship.
The life of a Christian really should be a simple thing to follow, as everything that we need to do has already been explained to us in God’s word. It has already been mapped out which things are good and which things are bad; which things are holy and which things are sinful. We just need to follow that map.
Psalms 119:105-106 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.”
In order to be certain that our faith does not diminish and “shipwreck,” work needs to be done. We need to keep ourselves strong in the word of God, holding fast to the things which we have learned. We must always…
Take care of our faith.
In Christ
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 