When Watchfulness Is Needed

On April 10, 1912, the steamship Titanic sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. The largest passenger ship in the world to that time, it was also hoped to be the fastest. The captain, in an effort to break the transatlantic crossing record, had the engines going full speed. Two days out of New York and well on its way to breaking the record, however, the Titanic collided with an iceberg and quickly became the world’s greatest maritime disaster.

Although the collision was due to a combination of errors, the overall cause of the disaster could be summed up in a single phrase: lack of watchfulness. Despite the fact that the captain knew they were sailing directly into an area of dangerous ice packs, no special precautions were taken. Radio messages from other ships warning of ice were either taken lightly or ignored altogether. One critical message was not even copied by the wireless operator because he was too busy sending personal messages from the ship’s wealthy passengers to their friends and families ashore.

The lookout in the crow’s nest did not bother to report that the binoculars that might have enabled him to see the iceberg earlier were missing. Intent on breaking the speed record, the captain did not slow down the ship to a safer speed. In hindsight, such an indifferent attitude toward the single most dangerous hazard to North Atlantic shipping seems to us today to be the height of folly and irresponsibility. Yet this is the same attitude many of us have as we move through our life. *

Matthew 26:41 Watch ye and pray lest ye fall into temptation.

Jesus’ warning to us is pertinent, isn’t it? Every day we sail through a sea infested with icebergs of temptation. Yet despite the danger, we seem to take a casual approach to the temptations that can ‘sink our ship’. Over time our culture seems to wear down our resistance to them. Values and practices that were at one time recognized as unacceptable now become acceptable and the cultural norm. No iceberg-infested sea was ever more dangerous than the society in which we live every day. It is the height of folly, then, not to watch against the temptations of the world.

What might they be? Remember the good old fashion values of honesty, showing respect, forgiving, being loyal and committed? Doing the right thing at the right time in the right way? Honoring others above ourselves by looking out for their needs and offering encouragement as needed? Showing self-control and discipline rather than greed, impatience and a ‘must have it now’ attitude?

The culture we live in is pervasive and relentless in convincing us that self-fulfillment, personal happiness, and the pursuit of pleasure, possessions and prestige are the highest good. When in reality they are not. The old ways and Biblical values that have shaped humankind since Creation are what will continue to stand the test of time.

Proverbs 27:12 -The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

The captain of the Titanic could have avoided the iceberg if he had been watchful. Likewise, we need to vigilantly be on guard every single day of the sin that can so very easily distract and ensnare us. We need to see the danger and then take refuge. We need to put up a temptation antennae, scanning the area around us looking out for those areas of sin. Once we identify them, we need to pray against them seeking the grace of God to overcome so that sin will no longer have a hold on us.

Let’s be watchful. Let’s be on guard against the messages from the world’s system that reach our ears and eyes everyday that blind us to the hazards that tempt to undermine what is really important. When we forfeit the Biblical values and practices that shape our lives for anything lesser, we are nothing more than a sinking ship.

“Heavenly Father, forgive me for allowing the world’s value system to infiltrate my own thinking and behavior. LORD, I know there is no lasting pleasure or permanency in this false system that is fading away. Help me to replace my misguided thinking and behavior with Your proven values and to live each day longing to hold them in high regard. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

* Extract from The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges, NavPress, 2013.