The Unheeded Warning

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
—2 Corinthians 5:20

The Titanic was one of the greatest man-made creations of all-time, but it also was one of the greatest disasters. It was a ship unparalleled, beautiful, a marvel of technological innovation and human ingenuity, and thought to be virtually unsinkable. But as the record of history shows, it was indeed sinkable, and despite its glory and splendor, sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic in the wee hours of April 15, 1912, taking some fifteen hundred lives. The greatest tragedy about the Titanic is that it was completely avoidable. Before that fateful night, there had been numerous warnings about icebergs in the vicinity, but they went unheeded, due either to laxity on the part of the crew, or a belief that there was not much to worry about, due to the sturdiness and size of the ship. In any event, the ship’s chief wireless operator, a man by the name of Jack Phillips, had been relaying messages to Cape Race, an intermediary of sorts for receiving communication from ships at sea in Newfoundland, Canada, that would then relay messages to other cities in Canada and the U.S. Phillips was sending messages back and forth with Cape Race when he was interrupted by a message from another ship, the SS Californian. The Californian’s only wireless operator, Cyril Evans, was reporting that they had to stop due to the fact that they were surrounded by ice. Because of the proximity of the Californian to the Titanic (about 9 to 15 miles depending on accounts), the signal was extremely loud in Phillips’ headset and interrupted his previous communication with Cape Race. Phillips responded to Evans with, “Shut up, Shut up, I’m working Cape Race." Evans waited until Phillips finished, but not hearing anything for several minutes, he went to bed. Ten minutes later, the Titanic struck the iceberg and began her perilous descent into the heart of the sea, taking with her some 1,500 souls.

There are many lessons to be learned from the Titanic disaster, but one of the most overlooked is the importance of giving warnings to those headed for disaster. Cyril Evans, the wireless operator on the Californian, relayed the message of the danger that awaited the Titanic if she were to continue on course. Jack Phillips is a picture of all of those who either do not heed the message from God to be reconciled to Him, or who fail to relay God’s message of reconciliation to others. We, like both Phillips and Evans, are God’s messengers, His ambassadors, sharing His message to a world adrift at sea, to those buoyed by their own pride, carelessly cavorting through life without a care in the world, lost in pleasure, assured of their own safety, unaware that their lives are about to end. Life is filled with icebergs that can and will crush the hull of our lives. And without Christ, we sink. If we avoid His warnings, we sink. If we fail to share His warnings, then we fail to show our concern for those who have been entrusted to our love and care. May it never be!

May we embrace the message of the Gospel, ready to receive the Lord’s commands, and pass that message on to others! May we not be distracted from our task by that which is infinitely less important! And may He use us to bring about the salvation of many souls so that He may receive, glory, honor and praise! Amen.