Lessons from a Sailboat 6

Lesson 6: The Purpose of Sails

Sails are what define a sailboat. People stand on the shore and look out at sailboats because of the sails. But sails do more than make a boat look good. They are essential for moving the boat through the water. They have a purpose. They act like the engine in a power boat, except that they draw their power from the wind. On most yachts you will see two sails: A large sail (called the mainsail) attached to a mast, and a smaller sail (called the foresail or jib) attached to a line at the front of the boat. The sails are what drive the boat. Without sails, a sailboat would go nowhere.

The Purpose Driven Life is a popular book that focuses on what drives a Christian to action and service. I like to think that the purpose of our life is like the sails on the sailboat. Without a purpose we will get nowhere. We will be driven by every wind and tide around us, by every popular belief and every fashionable activity. What is your life’s mainsail? What do you consider the main reason you exist? What are your smaller goals? If you are to progress in your faith and life, you need to know your priorities and set your life’s sails to those purposes.

Galatians 4:18

It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.

Lessons from a Sailboat 1

Lesson 1: There are different kinds of boats

Lesson 1: There are different kinds of boats

Over the years I have ridden in, borrowed, rented, and owned a number of different kinds of boats. I recall rowboats, and a small punt, both of which I rowed to get anywhere. Needless to say I did not go far in these. There was also a canoe, which required almost as much work at the rowboats. Then there were several small aluminum fishing boats to which I could attach a outboard motor. More fun than a rowboat and I could go farther. And then there were the sailboats. More fun than the aluminum boats and I could stay out overnight and even cook on board. But each boat had a purpose. How boring and impractical life on the water would be if every boat was alike.

The same is true of our lives. We are all different from each other. Each of us has talents and abilities unique to us. We each have different personalities, different looks, and different temperaments. It would be as unfair to compare ourselves with others as it would be to compare a canoe to a sailboat. As there are different kinds of boats, so too there are different kinds of people. We should not expect others to be like us. And we should not try to be like others. We should learn to appreciate ourselves as part of God's Creation and seek to find our purpose and place in life.

1 Corinthians 12:6
There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.