There are only two reasons for shipwrecks; one is navigational error, the other is mechanical error.
Paul tells young Timothy that there are also two reasons that people shipwreck their faith; one is doctrinal error, the other is moral
failure.
If you don’t want your faith to run aground friends, you can not let go of doctrine, you must study doctrine, you must know the those
fundamental aspects of your faith, who is God, who is Christ, what is sin, and what
is salvation. If you don’t know these things you are bound to eventually run aground in your faith.
But knowing correct doctrine isn’t enough. You can know all the doctrine in the world but if your life doesn’t match that doctrine you are also going to run your faith aground.
Paul tells Timothy to keep a clean conscience, he tells him to pursue righteousness, to practice and train for godliness. We must take that apply it to our lives and examine our life to make sure that our lives are in line with the doctrine we teach and the doctrine that we believe.
With out correct doctrine and without a life that matches that doctrine we are bound to run aground like this ship behind me. A ship that ran aground because it lost its engine, it had mechanical failure and they didn’t want to call SOS because it was also
operating illegally in these waters, and so it ran aground.
Ask yourself dear friend do you have Christ set in your navigation?
Are you following after him?
Do you have the correct understanding of how he saves you, of faith, and grace?
And is your life matching up?
And if you do then you will sail past those hidden rocks under the surface safely because you have Christ ahead of you.
