by Ron Harper

Shipwrecks are destructive things. Paul was being taken by ship to Rome. While at sea a strong northeast wind created a violent storm that destroyed the vessel. Thankfully, Paul and all on board were saved from death.

One of the most famous shipwrecks in American history is the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This cargo ship had carried iron ore and coal on Lake Superior for seventeen years. Of course, sailing on Lake Superior is risky business. The skeletons of at least 350 ships are strewn across her bottom. On November 9, 1975, The Edmund Fitzgerald encountered a fierce northeast wind. Storms are so common in November that they are called "the gales of November." Before she could reach her destination, the Edmund Fitzgerald was sunk. All 29 crewmen as well as the cargo were lost. Nature is a destructive force.

It is possible for you to be hit with "spiritual shipwreck." The Bible gives this warning.

"Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith" (1 Timothy 1:19).

If we continually violate our conscience, we will shipwreck our faith. A man sought help with a spiritual problem. He had continually violated his conscience with a sinful lifestyle. In the course of our conversation he said, "I just don't have much faith anymore."

Why did he not have much faith? It's obvious. He had shipwrecked his faith. He had destroyed it with a sinful lifestyle.

What the gales of November do to ships on Lake Superior is symbolic of what violating your conscience will do to your faith. Think about it.