Launch out into the deep
Sunday 13th July
Ships in the harbor are safe but that is not what ships were built for. We remember Jesus saying to his disciples, ”Launch out into the deep.”
Ships are built to launch out into the deep and if they don’t do that, there is no excuse for their existence no matter how safe and secure they may feel in the harbor.
We were also created to launch out in the deep. Paul describes some of his experiences and he tells us that he was shipwrecked three times. On one occasion he had spent a day and a night floating around in the deep before being rescued, yet he did not hesitate to board a ship and set sail for distant lands whenever he had an opportunity to spread the gospel message.
It is possible for us to be over timid about our preaching. We may feel safe in the harbor, in the privacy of our own home, and we may feel frightened to launch out and tell others the saving message that Jesus is coming and they should be preparing for his return.
We need to be willing to launch out into the deep, to get out in water over our heads and set sail with our banner flying that we belong to the Lord and we want to share the good news of His soon coming kingdom with all we can reach.
Ships with dropped anchors sitting in the calm water of the harbor certainly are safe, but what good are they? To be of any value to the owner, the ship must be laden with cargo, then it is untied from the dock, the anchor is hoisted up from the bottom and it launches out into the deep to deliver its cargo to some distant land.
Compare us to the ship. We sit at home safe and secure in our comfortable chair. While we may feel unthreatened there, what good are we to our Creator if this is all we ever do?
Shouldn’t we be spending the time we are at home (tied up in the harbor for the ship) filling our minds with the word of God which is able to make one wise unto salvation? (loading the cargo hold of the ship with needed supplies).
The time should arrive for us to get up out of our comfort zone (pull up anchor for the ship) and go out to share our knowledge of God’s saving word (deliver our cargo to others).
Of course there is risk involved. Nothing worthwhile has ever been done without risk. There are no waves in the harbor. As we sail past the breakwater the sea becomes choppy and our little vessel may begin to toss to and fro but we are not afraid for as we often sing, ”the rough winds may wrestle, our God will perform, with Christ in the vessel we smile at the storm.”
Our Lord is able to calm the sea but we need to have launched out into the deep and be busy taking the precious cargo of the word of God to others. In olden days it required wind to drive the ship so we should want and expect some turbulence.
People talk about what they will do when their ship comes in but their problem is that they have not sent a ship out. If we have not sent one out, there is none to come back. If we do not sow, we do not reap, if we do not launch out into the deep, we cannot sail to distant ports. We may be safe in the harbor but what useful purpose can we do to serve God, tied up at the dock with an empty cargo hold?
Let us get busy filling our minds with the word of God and then let us be willing to launch out and share the good news of God’s soon coming kingdom with everyone we meet.
David tells us about those ”that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters.” ”He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.”