Furious Chapter 11 Devotional

Burn the Ships!

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The harbor of Vera Cruz shimmered in the Mexican sun as eleven Spanish ships dropped anchor along the coast. The year was 1519. Hernando Cortez stood at the edge of a new world, staring down the mighty Aztec Empire with just six hundred men and no backup. The odds were impossible. The land was foreign. And fear was inevitable.

But Cortez understood something his men hadn’t yet grasped: if they left themselves an escape route, they would eventually take it. So he gave the order that shocked them all:

Burn the ships.

One by one, flames devoured the wooden hulls that had carried them across the sea. Smoke rose like a declaration. Retreat was no longer an option. They would move forward—or they would die trying. That unflinching resolve unlocked a potential they didn’t know they had. Within two years, against all odds, they had toppled the Aztec Empire.

That same spirit is what Paul captures in Galatians 2 when he says: “I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down.”

He’s not talking about ships. He’s talking about a system of works, rituals, and man-made righteousness that once defined his entire life. A system that had been crucified with Christ. Fulfilled by grace. Torn down at the cross. To return to it—to rebuild it—was not only misguided. It was rebellion. It was spiritual retreat.

And this is our temptation too.

Maybe you’ve left legalism behind… but still measure your worth by performance. Maybe you laid your shame at the cross… but keep revisiting the past. Maybe you’ve walked away from sin… but keep sneaking back to visit it in the dark. Maybe you’ve left the toxic relationship… but still fantasize about the “good parts” of what was killing you.

It’s like rebuilding a house Jesus already burned to the ground.

Which brings us to another striking picture—this one hidden in the Hebrew word for repent.

The word is made up of two letters: Sheen and Beyt.
Sheen (ש) means to press, consume, or destroy.
Beyt (ב) means house or tent.

Put together, they form a picture: destroy the house. Repentance, in its most literal, ancient form, isn’t just turning around. It’s burning down the old place before you do.

C.J. Lovik describes it this way:

“The two pictures of Sheen and Beyt are connected in a way you may find surprising. Instead of Turn or Burn, the Hebrew Word Sheen Beyt has the idea of destroying or burning the house. It could literally be translated Burn or Destroy and then Turn Around and leave. The concept is eloquently simple. If you burn the house down then you cannot return to live there, unless you wish to spend your life living among the charred ashes of death and destruction… To Repent based on the Ideal Picture meaning of Sheen Beyt is to leave the place you were living in never to return. It has been crushed, burned down, demolished and destroyed and there is no reason to return.”

It’s a vivid reminder:
There are some places you’re not meant to revisit.
There are some systems—like Paul’s law, or your shame—that need to stay buried.
There are some ships that need to be burned, some houses that need to be torn down.

Don’t rebuild what Jesus already demolished.
Don’t go back to what He delivered you from.
Don’t dig through the ashes.

Burn the ships.
Burn the house.
And don’t look back.

🔥 Reflection

Are there places in your life where you’ve been tempted to rebuild what Christ already tore down? Maybe it’s shame, fear, old habits, or self-righteous patterns that no longer belong to your new identity in Christ. What “house” have you left smoldering—only to find yourself sifting through the ashes again? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you need to burn the ships, destroy the old house, and walk forward without turning back.

🙏 Prayer

Lord, thank You for tearing down the old system that kept me bound. Thank You for setting me free—not just from sin, but from shame, from legalism, from my old identity. Help me recognize when I’m tempted to return to what You’ve already destroyed. Give me courage to move forward in faith, and not to look back. Teach me to live like someone truly rescued. I choose today to burn the ships and not rebuild what You died to dismantle. Amen.

📣 Call-to-Action

This week, identify one “old house” in your life—something Christ has already freed you from but you’ve been tempted to revisit. It could be an old sin pattern, a mindset, a relationship, or a religious habit that feeds guilt instead of grace. Write it down. Burn it (literally, if you want to). Then speak this declaration aloud: “I am a new creation in Christ. The old is gone. I will not rebuild what Jesus tore down.”

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