In 1707, British Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell sailed confidently home from Gibraltar with four Navy vessels under his command. Certain of his position, he ignored warnings. As night fell, tragedy suddenly came upon him as his flagship vessel struck the reef off the coast of the Scilly Isles. His ship sank in under three, dragging all 800 men aboard down to the depths of sea, including the admiral himself. The other three vessels would soon face the same fate. All would sink. Nearly 2,000 men drowned. There were very few survivors. They had drifted far off-course and clueless, leading to a terrible catastrophe.

In 1 Timothy 1, Apostle Paul had seen a similar shipwreck happen spiritually. Hymenaeus and Alexander held the faith — until they didn’t. Somewhere they silenced conscience, compromised on truth, and drifted. Paul says they “made shipwreck of their faith.”

Beloved, that’s the danger of drifting, of compromising on truth. Just let it go. But Paul charges young Pastor Timothy and all of us to fight. “Fight the good fight of faith,” he says. In other words, fight to hold fast to the Christian faith. When conscience signals danger, listen. When truth is inconvenient, hold it anyway.

The rocks don’t care how confident you sailed in. They’ll sink you anyway and drag you down to death. Therefore, you must avoid the rocks altogether by fighting the good fight, holding fast to the good and safe course of faith.

Change begins in you!