‘Burn our Ships’

“But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

In April of 1519 Hernando Cortez landed on the shores of what is now Vera Cruz, Mexico. His mission was to conquer the Aztec empire. With two prior Spanish expeditions having already failed his task seemed improbable, and given he had a mere 600 men was virtually impossible.

Cortez knew that he and his men faced incredible odds. He knew that the road before them would be dangerous and difficult. He knew that his men would be tempted to abandon their quest and return to Spain. As soon as Cortez and his men had come ashore and unloaded their provisions, he ordered their entire fleet of ships to be destroyed. They would now be fully vested with no possible means of retreat. Left with only two options, to die in this new land or to conquer it.

Folklore has it that Cortez burned his ships, but historically he scuttled his ships on shore so that they could use the ships resources. They needed every bit of resource possible and yet their essential resource was motivation, without it they’d certainly perish.

From a spiritual perspective my take away from this story is one of boldness, courage, and a willingness to risk it all for victory. We cannot look for the easy way out or to return to what we once were and we must never dwell in our past failures.

No matter what lies in our past it must never define us. Our current circumstances cannot be determined by our past, our past was only meant to shape us into what we are and what we’ll become. We are not meant to cling to what God has delivered us from. We are to boldly face our current circumstances with the confidence that He goes before us and that He has made a way, even in the desert places. When we find ourselves dwelling in the past, we need to remember that God has destroyed our ships.

It's essential we believe that Jesus took our past, present, and future sins upon Himself and nailed them to a cross 2000 years ago. And when He said, “It is finished” it is a promise that if we sincerely repent of our sins, those sins are forgiven and will not be held over us or even remembered by our Father.

We now have a new identity in Him, “we now are a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come,” 2 Cor. 5:17. If we’re to have complete victory in our new life we must, like Cortez, be bold enough to resist any opportunity to return to the old world of our lives. Boldness comes by faith, but the object of our faith is essential, if God is for us, who can be against us? If God is the source of our boldness, I truly believe there is nothing that we can’t do through Christ that strengthens us, even letting go of our past sins, hurts and disappointments. It’s time we:

“Step into a new day (or, a new thing) We can rise up from the dust and walk away We can dance upon the heartache, yeah So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships And don't you look back…” 'Burn the Ships', For King and Country

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Faith is believing something to be true. Trust is relying on the fact that 'the something' is true.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrew 11:6

“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear.” Hebrews 11:7

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8

“By faith Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:27

“By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land.” Hebrews 11:29

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.” Hebrews 11:30

Are we all in? That was a question that Cortez needed to answer and by his actions he did so quite boldly.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26

I’m convinced that our past can keep us from obtaining God’s best for our lives by keeping us bound to the old. God is wanting to do a “New Thing” and this new thing is the new life He has in store for us, for those that trust Him completely. But to find this new life we must die to the old, this is never easy, but it must be done so that we can stand, walk, and run this race to win. We must burn our ships! We are no longer to dwell in our past and to rely on old resources to gain victory, we must begin to trust in His ways, rely on His resources and have faith. We must lose our old lives to find our new ones! Just like those mentioned in Hebrews 11, they gave up their old lives and followed Him.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 8:37–39.