Hold Fast

"I hold fast to your statues, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame." (Psalm 119:31)

When I was a teenager I thought that I was invincible. Nothing would ever happen to me. I had grown up in Saskatchewan and I had never had had the opportunity to learn to swim. After we moved to Thunder Bay I would often go to my friends cottage at the lake and we would spend many an afternoon boating or in the water. My friend was convinced that if I would only let myself try I could swim as well as anyone else.

One day we were crossing the lake in his row boat and I was hanging onto the back of the boat. I thought that if I let go I would have to swim so I let go and down I went. When my friend realized what had happened he grabbed a life jacket and as soon as I surfaced he threw it. The life jacket circled my head and I hung on with all my strength. I called to him to throw me another life jacket because I didn't believe that one would hold me but my friend was too far away and he couldn't throw a life jacket that far.

As long as I held unto the boat I was safe but as soon as I let go I was in danger. Since that time I have learned to swim and though I still do not swim well, I can stay afloat in the water.

When we fail to hold fast to the truths of the gospel we are in danger. The Bible tells us that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe but there is no shame for us if we hold to the truth. It is when we abandon the truth and we rely on man's wisdom in our preaching, teaching, or witnessing that we find ourselves ashamed. The Gospel is the good news of God and we must be like the Apostle Paul and never be ashamed of the Gospel.

There are many shipwrecked lives of people who at one time or another forgot to hold fast to the truth of the Gospel. Their end was shameful. If they had held unto the truth they would never have been put to shame.