By Linda Cox


It’s a conversation I will not likely forget.


I sat next to an elderly lady, listening to her describe a family member as a good Christian man. “He started attending Sunday School as soon as he was old enough. He goes to church every Sunday. He serves on boards and committees at church.”


I waited for more.


She then said, “But we don’t go overboard with our faith.” To make her point, she reached over, patted my knee, and said, firmly and slowly, “We . . . don’t . . . go . . . overboard . . . in our faith.”


Knowing the “back story” to her comments, I thought it best to choke back what I really wanted to say.


Is there any other way to live the Christian faith than overboard?


I mean, let’s face it. God went overboard when He created this beautiful, amazing world we live in. And He certainly went overboard in His plan of salvation for us. His Son, Jesus Christ, went overboard in His sacrificial death on the cross for us. And the Holy Spirit not only went overboard at Pentecost, He continues to go overboard every time one of us becomes a new creation in Christ. So, if God goes overboard for us, how can we not go overboard for Him?


No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit

for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62


Nothing should be more important than our whole-hearted relationship to our Lord. Living out our faith should never be an afterthought but rather our ultimate priority and our ultimate passion. For when we are passionate about our faith, we become passionate about Him being the priority in our life.


Of course we also need to be careful that in living “overboard” we do not do so like a cannonball, obnoxiously drenching everyone in sight, maybe even running some off. We should seek to go overboard into Jesus’ arms where He will direct our passionate faith according to His perfect plan.


I don’t know about you, but my resolution for 2013 is that each and every day starts with the cry, “Ahoy Matey! Woman Overboard!”



Linda Cox is a regular contributor to DivineDetour. She recently retired after twenty-five years as a district office secretary for the State of Illinois. Her first loves are studying the Bible and reading, but she occasionally tries her hand at writing. Her work is published in All My Bad Habits I Learned from Grandpa (Thomas Nelson),The One-Year Life Verse Devotional (Tyndale), Life Lessons from Grandparents (Write Integrity), Love Is a Verb (a devotional from Bethany House), and Chicken Soup for the Soul’s I Can’t Believe My Dog Did That. She lives on a farm with the “Bone Mafia,” her two indoor/outdoor farm mutts.