Scripture to Read: 1 Timothy 1:19b-20
Yesterday’s devotion was a great reminder to us to be prepared for the battlefield we walk into each day as Christians. God continues in 1 Timothy 19b-20 to explain why we must prepare each day for the spiritual battlefield. Through Paul, God lets us know that some believer's lives have been “suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” Suffering shipwreck means Christians have chosen to reject the Holy Spirit living in them. Some people would think, or even say, that those Christians who have chosen to reject the Holy Spirit have lost their salvation. But, for anyone thinking Christians can lose their salvation, they would be wrong. As Christians, we can turn our back on God and sin. God gives us a warning in Ephesians 4:30, not to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” Then God warns us again in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Both of these warnings from God let us, as Christians, know that we are capable of both grieving and quenching God’s Holy Spirit living in us. God then has Paul mention Hymenaeus and Alexander as two examples of those who have been shipwrecked. God led Paul to say that he had handed these two men over to Satan so that they would be disciplined and taught not to blaspheme. God, in His sovereign love and mercy, will allow us to suffer the consequences of walking in darkness until we come to the point of repentance (Hebrews 12:5-11). May we fight the good fight so we guard against being shipwrecked.
Challenge & Application
1. What did God teach you today about Christians who have been shipwrecked in their lives?
2. How are you guarding your heart and life each day from being shipwrecked?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!