Missing The Boat

When the phrase “missing the boat” is muttered, typically, it’s understood that some type of opportunity has been missed as the boat that came by was missed out on. Hearing this phrase and studying on it, after all the observation that many Christians are missing the boat and we are missing out on what God is trying to say to us.

How do I know this? Well, for one, I used to be guilty of this as I had my own view and beliefs and that’s what I stayed with even if it went against God’s word. Although I was a Christian, I was not engaged with God’s word nor did I walk with Him as closely as I should have so I truly missed out on the boat. And two, this topic is talked about greatly within scripture.

Think of 2 Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” We must be careful when listening to those who say they are of God as many are not and while we mean well listening to such men, we have so much technology and resources to help us better understand God’s word that when we do not take advantage of them, we are missing the boat.

Sadly, Satan disguises himself in the midst of such things as he is an angel of light so when his servants do his bidding, it should be no surprise that they pretend to be servants of our Lord. This may sound dirty but we must pay attention to warfare, especially spiritual warfare, as all is fair in love and war and spiritual warfare, apparently, is no exception. When we are instructed to test the spirits of all, we are to do so to ensure that the person or people or the event is as advertised but when we do not, well, we miss the boat but if we stay within God’s word, no man’s life will be lost despite what we come in: “And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship” (Acts 27:22).

Think about what happens when we try to find something in the dark. Often times, we stumble our toe or trip over something because we are unable to see fully and this is the same principle that we live by when we are not in scripture or only halfway understand scripture: we are lost. When we go camping or out at night, we need a light to guide us which is why we take a flashlight with us and why vehicles have headlights and the same is true for scripture. God’s word is there to guide us through life and Christ is a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path but when we do not follow God’s directions of follow His path, we miss the boat: “ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).