Without The Captain — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

The young sailor had been given a once in a lifetime opportunity. He’d been sailing on destroyers actually for many years, he had great experience, but this day was different. He was asked if he’d like to get this big ship underway from the dock. It was a huge responsibility, he was very excited. He had the docks buzzing with activity, and soon the ship was steaming up the channel on route to its destination. Full steam ahead.

And the interim captain was pleased with how everything was going. It was a special day for him, so it was no surprise when a seaman approached him and said: Look, he’s, there’s a message from the captain. It was urgent. My personal congratulations upon completing your underway preparation exercise according to the book with amazing speed. But in your haste, you’ve overlooked one of the unwritten rules. Make sure the captain is aboard before getting underway.

Now I like this little story, it has many applications. Now we can be thoroughly prepared and leave out the most important things. If you’re going overseas, like you forget your passports or your credit card, it can be quite a concern, can’t it?

So what are your priorities in life? Have you ever spent much time thinking about what you should spend your time on?

I think a lot of people haven’t done that. They just go on from day to day doing whatever they want, whatever they feel like doing, without ever asking themselves what they should be doing. And that shows the truth of what well-known, one well-known businessman from California said.

He said there are two things that are difficult for most people to do, to think and to do things in the order of their importance.

What a tragedy it’d be to go through your whole life and the end of it, you look back and think I’ve spent all this money, time, energy on things that had no point, no value. And how depressing it would be to realise that you’d wasted your whole life on vain pursuits.

You’d left something off, the captain wasn’t on board. The Bible gives us many clear statements on how to have a purpose in life and to set your priorities. In fact, there are hundreds of these statements in the Bible, but they all boil down to one thing, and this is it, make eternal things your priority.

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The TV shows that we watch, they won’t last, and the knowledge we’ve got about cars and sports, all that stuff won’t last. And what is it that Jesus said?

What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? That’s in Mark 8:36.

And in Matthew 6, Jesus said, more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what He wants, and then the other things will be yours as well.

Well, many people today think that their jobs and their houses or cars are the most important thing. I mean, if you’re seeking something, that means to make sacrifices to get what it is you want with all your strength. Now say take this moment to say, well what am I seeking? What do I spend my time thinking about, what do I talk about? How do I invest the majority of my energy?

I think they’re important questions. But God says something different. He says to seek first His kingdom and to live with eternity in mind. The apostle Paul actually says many things like that in Colossians chapter 3 verse 2 in the New Testament. He actually says in this way, Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.

A lighthouse was on a bleak coast. Had a keeper who was given enough oil for one month and told to keep the light burning every night was very important for ships. And one day a woman asked for oil that her children could be warm. And then a farmer came, and he, his son needed oil for a lamp so he could read. Another one wanted some oil for an engine. So the keeper saw each request as worthy, and he gave out enough oil for them. But near the end of the month, the tank in the lighthouse ran dry, and that night the beacon was dark, and 3 ships crashed onto the rocks, and more than 100 lives were lost. And when this was investigated by the government, the man explained what he’d done. And why you were given one task, said the official rather sternly, was to keep the light burning. Everything else was secondary.

How true that is for us. There are many worthwhile things we can do, but there’s really only one important thing, and that is to put God first, for He will direct your life. So if you decide today to make your relationship with God the first thing, then everything else will fall into place in the right order.

Giving you a fulfilled life.

Let’s Pray

Lord, thank you for these truths. Help me to get my priorities sorted out and to place you first. Amen.

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