Submitted By: Richard B. Sauls, Pastor at Lee Worship Center
Another spiritual lesson to be learned from this tragedy is the failure to change course in the face of imminent danger.
Testimony at the Senate hearings held after the disaster indicated that the Titanic had been warned numerous times that she was sailing into icy waters. Yet the captain refused to slow the ship's frantic pace, let alone change course.
J. Bruce Ismay, president of the White Star line, had urged Captain Edward Smith, who was making his last voyage before retirement, to set a new record for crossing the Atlantic. So with every boiler stoked and steaming, the monster ship sped through the darkness into the jaws of death.
Even when warned, the captain refused to change course, all for the love of money.
Have you heard the voice of God calling you to change course? You know that what you're doing, what you're saying, what you're thinking, is sin. Turn around---death and destruction are ahead!
The love of money drove the Titanic into an iceberg, sending 1,522 people to an early grave. Is the love of money killing you?
I see it over and over. People sacrifice their marriages on the altar of materialism to gain what they can't keep. If money is a problem in your marriage, take your leather sofa back to the furniture store and sit on an apple crate. Trade your Mercedes in for a mule---but keep your marriage together.
The Bible says that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15). Things are not important; your spouse and your children are. Spend time with them!
False security
The third spiritual lesson from the Titanic is the danger of a false sense of security.
One of the primary reasons so many lives were lost was the refusal to believe the ship faced a real threat. The hype about this "unsinkable" ship with its 12 watertight compartments caused the ship's crew to underestimate the damage from the iceberg. Even when the crew began to evacuate the passengers, most believed that they were absolutely safe.
Do you have a false sense of security about spiritual things? What if you believed you are saved, yet at the judgment bar of God you hear a thundering voice say, I never knew you---- depart from Me! (Matt. 7:23)
Scripture says, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). Have you conducted a spiritual self-examination? Are you really saved, or are you religious and lost?
As a society are we safe, or are we blindly dashing into disaster? America, a nation founded on spiritual principles, has been warned to change course but we have a false sense of security. "We are the greatest nation, the freest people on Earth," we say.
Our nation was born in covenant with God. Yet we proudly think we are the unsinkable society. Our president has stated that America is not a Christian nation. We are racing toward disaster.
We are sinking morally. We are sinking spiritually and we are sinking financially---in spite of what appears to be a booming economy. The markets have been feeling a financial shakedown, yet from Wall Street to Washington our leaders tell us not to worry. "We are unsinkable," they proudly proclaim.
The same words issued from the Titanic and the deception was so strong that 24 hours after she went down, newspaper headlines reported "All Saved from Titanic after Collision."
It was a total denial of reality. That's where America is today. We are denying the reality of the magnitude of our problems. We must turn around or perish!