When I was young, my family owned a cottage on a lake. From a young age, I loved to head out in our little motorboat so I could explore that lake and the others that were connected to it. I could easily make a day out of slipping into little inlets to see where they led or mooring on tiny islands to see what I could find. I was never more free than when I was all by myself, zipping around Indian Lake in a little aluminum boat.
As I explored new areas, I knew to look out for buoys. Sometimes these were big and serious ones installed by whatever government department is responsible for such matters. More often, though, they were simple plastic bleach bottles or rubber balls that had been informally anchored to the lake floor. And while I didn’t know who had placed each of those buoys, I knew what they represented: Danger. Each one marked a spot where at one time a boat had struck a shoal that was hidden just under the surface of the water or a tree jutting upward and now able to pierce a hull. Each one represented a lesson someone else had learned that I did not wish to learn myself. I was terrified of the thought of hitting one of these obstructions so always gave the buoys a wide berth.
I often think we should treat our past sins like buoys, markers that we throw down to keep us from striking the same rock twice—or committing the same sin twice. As soon as we identify a sin in our lives and repent of it, we should make it like a buoy that reminds us of the danger lurking in that sordid corner of our hearts or within reach of our evil desires. It is a poor sailor who strikes the same shoal twice and a foolish Christian who repeats a transgression. Throw out a buoy to remind yourself of your sin and warn yourself away!
It is a poor sailor who strikes the same shoal twice and a foolish Christian who repeats a transgression.
And even as we treat our own sins like buoys, it is wise to do the same with the sins of other people. A cottager does not need to mark all the shoals in a lake because others have already done it for us. And in that way, we do well to learn from other people’s sins as well. When we see a leader sink his ministry through moral transgression, we should learn the lesson—drop a buoy so we do not hit that shoal. When we see a fellow church member bring sorrow to his life and harm to his family, we should learn that lesson as well—drop a buoy so we do not ram into that reef and begin to founder. There are markers around most obstacles if only we will look for them, heed them, and steer wide around them.
We know the old saying that those who do not learn history are destined to repeat it. In much the same way, those who do not learn from their own sins, and those of others, are destined to repeat them—to blunder into them again and again and suffer the consequences. It is better by far to heed all those buoys that can steer us away from the obstacles that would otherwise pierce our hearts and make shipwreck of our faith.
