Launched in Belfast on 31st May 1911, the Titanic was at the time the largest ship ever built. Her owners had catered for every possible 'creature comfort'. They had prepared for everything... except the disaster they were convinced could never happen...
Yet for us today, there are some uncomfortable parallels. We make every effort to sail through life, trusting in our own judgement and abilities... facing the future with a self-confidence which leaves no place for the God who says...
Those who trust in themselves are fools...
Proverbs 28:26
How easily we can build our lives on a false sense of security and not realise it until it's too late. We assume that our own efforts to live a decent life will earn acceptance with God but how wrong can we be.
Approaching midnight on 14th April 1912, she struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland and within 3 hours she lay at the bottom of the sea. But just as the Titanic failed to withstand the impact of the ice, so we will be unable to face the force of God's judgement when one day He calls us to give account of our lives...
...people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment...
Hebrews 9:27
Thankfully God has put together a 'rescue plan' for us beyond all other...
Over 2000 years ago he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world and because He lived a perfect life He was 'good enough' to die in our place on the Cross of Calvary, taking the punishment we deserve. But of course this in itself doesn't set us 'right' with God. Just as the Titanic would have avoided the iceberg by a timely change of direction, so we're called, with His help, to change the direction of our lives... away from all we know to be wrong...
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins
and live for righteousness...
1 Peter 2:24
… and when seeking forgiveness and asking the risen Christ Jesus to become our Saviour and Lord, so we're given a completely new start in life with the motivation and power to live a new lifestyle... pleasing to Him.
The story of the Titanic speaks powerfully to us today because it's one of misplaced confidence and a failure to heed warnings. So let's not make shipwreck of our everlasting future by reaching out to Him today...
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Romans 10:13
Titanic illustration courtesy of Ken Macindoe
