Dwell on the image of a luxury liner. Gleaming brass and polished wood. The music whispering out of the ballroom as passengers dance and dine oblivious to the water seeping in around the hull below.
That's our world. Not tomorrow's world. Not some far-off apocalyptic future, but the world you woke up in this morning.The Bible doesn't mince words about this. In Hebrews 12:26-27, we find an astonishing promise:
"At t time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, 'Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.' The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain."
Reread that. God isn't threatening to shake things. He's promising to shake them. And not just the earth this time, but the heavens too. Everything built from human imagination, will, and gathered might will be subjected to this sacred earthquake. What can be shaken will be shaken, and what crumbles was never solid to begin with.
You don't need a theology degree to see the cracks spreading. Turn on the news. Check your Facebook. Listen to the conversations at coffee shops and office cubicles. Economic systems that promised perpetual growth suddenly contract, leaving millions to wonder where their security went. Nations who enjoyed centuries of stability fracture along fault lines no one saw coming. And the moral consensus that once held communities together has dissolved into a thousand competing voices. Each shouting their own truth into the void.
Yet watch how people respond. They clutch all the tighter to the very things that are failing them. More wealth will fix it, they think. And so they chase another promotion. Another investment. Another zero in the bank account.
Politics will save us. So they pour their hope into the next election. Next candidate. Next policy. Science and technology will deliver us. So they wait for the innovation that will finally solve our deepest problems.
These aren't bad things in themselves. But as ultimate refuges? As sources of salvation? They're deck chairs on the Titanic, my friend. Rearranging them with great passion doesn't change what's happening below the waterline.
The world is taking on water. This isn't pessimism. It's realism grounded in both Scripture and observable reality. And here's the question that should haunt every thinking person: When this ship goes down, where will you be?
Will you be clutching your first-class ticket, insisting everything is fine as the bow tilts toward the waves? Or will you be reaching for the lifeboat?
Salvation: The Lifeboat to God's Kingdom
God is not caught off guard by any of this. He is not wringing His hands in heaven, wondering how to get us out of the mess we have made. He has provided the escape route already. In fact, He announced it two thousand years ago through the most unlikely person in the most unlikely way. "I am the way and the truth and the life," Jesus said in John 14:6. "No one comes to the Father except through me."
Those words have offended untold numbers over the centuries. They sound exclusive to an age that prizes inclusivity. They feel narrow when we've been taught that all paths lead to the same destination.
But here's what we miss when we stumble over the exclusivity: Jesus isn't just claiming to know the way out. He's proclaiming to be the way out. He is the lifeboat Himself.
Think about what a lifeboat actually does. It doesn't improve conditions on the sinking vessel. It doesn't make the doomed ship safer or more comfortable. It offers something far more radical: complete departure to a different reality. That is what salvation in Christ accomplishes. Colossians 1:13 puts it this way:
"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."
Notice the verb tenses: Has rescued. Has brought. Not will rescue someday, maybe, if you're good enough. For those who are in Christ, the transfer has already occurred. You've been extracted from one kingdom and relocated to another. While the world system continues its inevitable collapse, you now belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Cannot fail. Cannot sink.
This is the gospel, friends. Not a minor course correction to your life. Not a spiritual enhancement to an otherwise secular existence. It's nothing less than grand evacuation and citizenship transfer.
The kingdom of God runs on completely different principles than the world's systems. Grace, not merit, is the currency. Love, not power. Sacrifice, not accumulation. And unlike every human kingdom that has ever risen and fallen, this one has no expiration date.
But here's where many of us get confused. We treat salvation like fire insurance. A ticket we punch to avoid hell while continuing to live as passengers on a sinking ship. We want Jesus as Saviour but reject Him as Lord. We climb into the lifeboat but keep one foot on the deck of the Titanic, hedging our bets. That's not how this works. You can't simultaneously trust in God's kingdom and the world's systems. You can't build your life on two foundations.
Living by The Word of God: Secret to Stability
Jesus Himself draws this line with razor clarity in Matthew 7:24-25:
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."
Notice what Jesus doesn't say. He doesn't say everyone who hears my words is wise. He says everyone who hears them and puts them into practice. The distinction matters enormously.
You can attend church every Sunday. Own three different translations of the Bible. Have favourite worship songs programmed into your playlist. You can affirm every doctrine. Quote Scripture in conversations. Even teach Sunday school. But if you're not actually living by what God has said, you're building on sand. You're constructing your life on a foundation that will collapse when the storms come. And the storms always come.
So, what does it actually mean to build on the rock? What does practical obedience look like when the world around us shakes?
First, it means trusting God rather than the systems of the world. Proverbs 3:5-6 says,
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
All your heart. Not most of your heart. Not just the spiritual compartment of your heart while your finances, career, and relationships are run on worldly wisdom. Every decision, every plan, every fear gets put under God's authority and wisdom.
When the economy takes a nosedive, you don't panic because your security isn't in your portfolio. When relationships break apart, you don't despair because your identity isn't in other people's approval. When your health lets you down, you don't lose hope because your future isn't tied to your body's cooperation.
This is what trust looks like in practice. It's not fatalism or passivity. It's deep confidence that God is both good and sovereign, working all things according to purposes far wiser than anything you could devise.
It means, secondly, living righteously. Psalm 1:1-3 paints a vivid picture:
"Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-whatever they do prospers."
Look at that image. While everything around this tree might be experiencing drought, this tree stays green. Why? Because its roots reach down to a water source that doesn't depend on circumstances. That's what happens when you root your life in God's word and live according to His righteous standards.
You flourish in unstable times. Because your nourishment comes from an unchanging source. Righteousness isn't about earning God's favour through moral performance. It's about aligning your life with reality as God defines it. His commands aren't arbitrary rules designed to restrict your fun. They're the operating manual for human flourishing, written by the one who designed humans in the first place.
Third, it means remaining steadfast in faith. Hebrews 10:23 exhorts us:
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
Unswervingly. Not when it's convenient. Not when other Christians are watching. Not when your feelings line up. The whole time. Through doubt and disappointment. Through suffering and setback. Through seasons when God feels distant and prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling.
This is where many believers shipwreck. They start well, genuinely trusting Christ for salvation. But when life gets hard and God doesn't respond according to their expectations, they quietly drift back toward the world's systems. They return to old coping mechanisms. Old sources of identity. Old patterns of self-reliance. They never formally renounce their faith. They just gradually give it less and less authority over their actual lives until it becomes a religious veneer rather than a living reality.
May that not be your story. The ground is shaking. You can feel it. And the shaking's going to increase. But you have access to something that is unshakeable. A kingdom that outlasts every empire. That outlasts every economy. That outlast every institution humanity has ever built. The question isn't whether you will go through storms. You will. The question is what foundation you're building on when those storms hit.
This article is about learning to live beyond living. Beyond mere survival. Beyond chasing the world's definition of success. Beyond the endless cycle of anxiety and exhaustion that comes from building on sand. It's about discovering what it means to truly inhabit God's unshakeable kingdom while the world around us falls apart. Not as an escape from reality, but as an engagement with ultimate reality.
The ship is going down. The lifeboat is there. Ready. The question is: Will you board it?
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