18 …fight the good fight, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and have shipwrecked the faith. (1 Timothy 1:18b-19 CSB)

Getting shipwrecked provides a very good mental picture of what can happen in our faith.

When we stray off path and begin making decisions wholly focused upon ourselves and our desires we soon find ourselves among the rocks. Our lives become storm tossed and battered and we can end up wet, tired and laying on a sandy beach on a lonely island.

We may not realize just how apt this analogy can be. That feeling of being lost and alone, stranded as it were, when we step away from God and a faithful life.

If you have lived long enough most of us find ourselves here at some point. The sad part is how long we often sit stranded on that beach and even give in to our fate and begin to try to build structures to stay instead of reaching out for rescue.

We do not have to remain shipwrecked and rescue is just a prayer and some directional correction away. But we cannot hope for rescue if we decide to live on our island.