“For the person who sows to the flesh will from the flesh reap corruption...but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life!” Galatians 6:8

Near midnight 99 years ago today, on the night of April 14, 1912, the Passenger Liner R.M.S. Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Within minutes water began pouring into her lower decks. Less than 3 hours later her propellers started to rise out of the water. For the more than 1,200 people left on board there was little hope of escape. By sunrise, the biggest ship the world had ever seen had plunged more than two miles to the bottom of the ocean without a trace but for a small fleet of timber lifeboats drifting in the frigid North Atlantic. While around 800 passengers were rescued on April 15 by Titanic’s sister ship Carpathia, those left on board Titanic perished primarily for an insufficient number of lifeboats. Among those rescued were mostly first and second-class passengers. They were mostly women and children.

More than one movie has been produced about the experience of Titanic. Countless books have been written. And we’re still fascinated with this larger-than-life unsinkable ship that sank on its maiden voyage.

What is it about Titanic that captures our imagination so? Surely the circumstance of her sinking on her maiden voyage, the so-called “unsinkable” ship, contributes to her infamy. The fact that she was bigger than any ship the world had ever seen up to that point in history (as far as we know) contributes still. But moreover I believe it is because Titanic represents the human spirit itself The human spirit endeavors always and everywhere to surpass itself, to do better, build bigger, go farther, faster…
There’s an important lesson in the tale of Titanic. It reminds us that although we rightly reach for the stars, although we may endeavor always to transcend ourselves and our own achievements and technology, we are forever bound to remember that nothing but the Spirit lasts eternal. The things of earth will perish. Jesus said it this way, “What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and ‘lost’ his own soul…?”