The Alpha of Navigational Aids to Life

UV 3152/10000 The Alpha of Navigational Aids to Life
Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
I Timothy 1 v 19

It is instructive and enlightening to see how the Amplified version puts this uni-verse: “keeping your faith (leaning completely on God with absolute trust and confidence in His guidance) and having a good conscience for some (people) have rejected (their moral compass ) and have made a shipwreck of their faith.” In short, faith is what puts wind in our sails but we need the navigational aid of our conscience. The map is provided by our reason enlightened by the word of God. Life is like an uncharted sea but the Holy Spirit as a Master Navigator will whisper guidance as we go either through prophetic word or through a word of wisdom or knowledge or counsel. We should avoid wrecking our life and our faith by running the ship of life onto the rocks of unrighteousness, doubt, fear, lust and pride.

The Captain of our life ship is no doubt, Jesus who proved His ability to steer through storms, temptations, trials, troubles, betrayals, hunger, poverty, loneliness, failure, death and sin. We need to surrender different areas of our lives to His discipline and guidance through prayer and meditation. The steering wheel or the helm should be in the hands of Jesus. In extremely stormy seas, we should drop anchor in His love and wisdom and grace. We should be confident that He is able to take us through without ship wreck to the eternal shores. The goods we carry are the good deeds and love we have manifested in practical ways in the course of our lives.
While navigating life’s challenges, we should learn from the example of those who have ruined their testimonies by not following the promptings of the Holy Spirit or of their own consciences quickened or made sensitive by the word of God. At the same time, we will do well to emulate the large number of faithful witnesses, both in the past and in the contemporary times who have victoriously traversed the sea of life. Jesus is not only Captain but He is also our life saving belt tied tightly around our hearts so that even in the event of an unintended shipwreck, we can remain afloat and be saved. We see this in the case of St Paul for even when he suffered a literal ship wreck, the Lord saved the crew and the fellow prisoners on account of his faith in Jesus.