Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Sailing and Sanctification

    There is a good analogy of faith between sailing and our sanctification.  Our being sanctified and and finishing the course that is set before us, is dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Yet, there is a part that we play. "Walking by faith"  is similar to "running" in a sailboat. 

  The grace of God working in us through the Holy Spirit, is the “wind” to propel us forward.  However, there are at least two factors that strongly influence our running the course.  One is hoisting the sails, that is, filling our lives with God’s Word, with the desire to do His will.  The second is “setting our course”, or, to be doing God’s will.  Doing God’s will is obedience to the word of Christ, which starts with the Ten Commandments and extends to its applications in the Sermon on the Mount, and the rest of the New Testament epistles.  Everything that Peter, James, John and Paul exhorted the churches to be doing, are the extensions and applications of the Ten Commandments, or if you will, loving God with all of your heart, soul and mind and then loving your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-40).

  Not using the Word of God, which is the primary means of grace, is like not “hoisting the sails”.  There will be little forward motion, and in fact, the tide (flow of our culture) will exert a greater influence in our lives than the Spirit and the Word. 

  If the course of our lives that we chart is not according to the Word of God, then we will be actually going against the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, grieving the Spirit (Eph. 4:25-32).

  I know that my analogy breaks down a little because you get more distance with the sails at a slight angle to the wind, but the point is that the course needs to be set according to the Word of God, (Psalm 119:105-106)and the life under the power of the Holy Spirit.  And if one rejects the Law of God, they sort of put themselves up the proverbial “creek without a paddle.“(1 Tim. 1:19)  Now, I know all analogies do break down, but if you think about it, I am sure that you will “get my drift”!