Deckchairs on the Titanic

Now these things happened to them [Israel] as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.1 Corinthians 10:11Wouldn’t it be nice to go off on a long cruise to a warm place with magnificent scenery, endless food, and a good book to get lost in? What could be better? Unless, of course, the name of the cruise ship happens to be The Titanic.Over these next weeks, we are going to follow the stories of Bible characters who took a plunge to disaster. Like passengers on The Titanic, their lives were sailing along, and everything seemed to be going well. The problems were hidden, and all of a sudden they went down. We will meet three characters from the Old Testament, and one character who even knew Jesus personally, but every one of them took a plunge to disaster.It’s hard to imagine anything more tragic than the person who thinks that everything is right, when actually they are heading for disaster. Jesus spoke about this in the Sermon on the Mount.He said that on the last day there will be people who had prophesied and done great work in His name to whom He will say, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Mat. 7:23).This is one of the most disturbing verses in the Bible. There are some people to whom this will happen, and it is our business to make sure that we are not among them.God has many ways of teaching us. Sometimes we learn from the wise—we look up to them and learn from their example. But it is also possible to learn from fools as we see their mistakes and learn to avoid them.Do you feel that everything is going well in your life? Why or why not?