Sending Ships to Sail

Indecisiveness. Being overly cautious. Just as rushing into something is a problem, so is doing nothing at all. We need to make a decision and stick with it. 

Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

“Casting bread on water” is sending ships stocked with trading goods out to sea. We can’t with a snap of our fingers take back a bunch of ships we've just launched, can we? Being indecisive does not help anything. What happens, happens. If that decision caused us to sin, or someone else to sin, God graciously gives us His forgiveness. Many times, I've made decisions that I wish I could have taken back. Words I've said, stupid things I've done, often because I didn't think before I spoke or acted. Sometime,s I did  do a lot of thinking, thought it was a good idea, and what I chose turned out not to be such a brilliant idea. When what was done was done, I worried. What would people think of me? Will they judge me? Are they talking about what I did, what I said? How did I ever get myself into this mess...

Ecclesiastes 11:2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. 

If we were to send out trading ships, we expect them to return with a profit, right? Well, the seas don’t always cooperate, and what we had thought would be profit actually could be a loss. Our decisions may not turn out how we expected. We might not get the results we were hoping for from our choice. Storms come. The trading ships may end up at a completely different destination. Will we go on, even though we have been rerouted? What are we making decisions for, anyway? Who are the trading ships for? Is the profit truly for us? We send them out not even knowing if they will come back. Wouldn't it be better to send them out, not expecting them to come back in the first place? We are called to serve our neighbors. Every choice we make, every decision, should first be preceded with the question "How will this benefit those around me? How will this impact their life, physically and spiritually?"

Ecclesiastes 11:3-4        If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

Things on earth and of the earth are always changing and never consistent. We can’t wait for perfect conditions to go share our faith, to plant seeds, to reap the harvest. If we wait for perfect conditions, we will be waiting forever. We can't put off the work of the Lord.  I know I have missed plenty of opportunities to witness for the Lord. Every day I have times where I am silent instead of speaking words of truth. I am loud and bold, but not for Christ. I think to myself, "When is the right time to bring up the subject of faith? Do I know for sure that this person knows Jesus? Will I be offending them?"

Every day, every hour, we make choices. We all fall short. Not one of us is perfect. Again and again, we choose to benefit ourselves. We dance around the issue of faith with others, unsure of how to move forward. We make messes of our lives. Even just typing this, I wonder how God could use such selfish, fickle, indecisive people as us for His purposes?  

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, , therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.

We are forgiven children of God! Christ died for us. He rose from the dead so that we too have life.  Because of Jesus Christ’s life, death on the cross, and resurrection, we can step forward in the promise of His mercy and grace. We live in the forgiveness He has granted us through the shedding of His own blood. We are dead to sin, and alive in Christ! Now we can act in faith, knowing that it is Christ who lives and works in us!