| Dear One,
When I was a young college coed in
Oklahoma, I lived off campus in an old rental house. That poor piece of
rental property had only the barest of basics to offer – running
water, electricity, indoor plumbing, and one window air conditioning
unit. So as the heat and humidity of late spring set in, I stationed
myself in front of that window unit so I could enjoy some relief from
the sticky weather. Ahhh, it was heaven…for awhile.
I eventually concluded that a
stationary position in front of that old air conditioner was causing my
social life to suffer. I liked being active and I loved being outside.
Matter of fact, I really loved being out in the sun. Yes, it’s true. I
was one of those sun-worshipping chicks who just had to get an early
start on her tan before she went home for the summer. And, I loved to
catch rays by lying on a raft in the middle of a pool. That, too, was
heaven for me. But I didn’t have the luxury of a "cement
pond" like my apartment-dwelling friends and I didn’t want to use
the public pool – too many kids and not enough privacy. So I
improvised.
I went down to my local discount store
and purchased a plastic wading pool. If I remember correctly, it was
blue and green with fish and seashells painted on the sides. I also
purchased two additional pieces of sunbathing equipment that were
extremely important – an inflatable, full-length raft and a set of
water wings. I know. The raft is understandable, but the water wings?
Easy answer – one water wing works beautifully as a cola drink holder.
Keeps the drink cool in the water as it bobs to and fro.
So, with my sun-catching, water-cooling
backyard retreat in place, I was ready to enjoy a plethora of relaxing
experiences in the sun. Ahhh, a plastic wading pool slightly filled with
cool water, a newly inflated full-length raft, a set of water wings and
an ice cold cola. Nothing could be finer. . .until one hot afternoon.
It began like any other sunbathing
afternoon. I was just lying on my raft minding my own business. As I
began to close my eyes, I caught a blur of something or someone coming
towards me out of the corner of my right eye. But before I could turn my
head to focus, I was pulled off my raft and out of the pool by some
unknown good-deed-doer. As I caught my balance, my brain began to
register what had just happened and I began a verbal assault on this
poor guy. "Are you crazy? What in the world are you doing?" I
roared, "You scared me to death!" He looked at me with a
sheepish grin and then said, "Sorry, I thought you were
drowning." I couldn’t believe it! This guy actually thought that
he had rescued me from certain peril. Holy smokes, the pool barely had
any water in it - if I needed anything, all I had to do was stand up!
You have got to be kidding, I wasn’t in any danger.
Now, my idea of danger is a little more
extreme than floating in a backyard wading pool. Take the final scenes
from the movie, The Perfect Storm. That’s peril, danger and big
trouble all rolled into one. The final nail-biting moments of this movie
centered around six fishermen who were out in "The Perfect
Storm". This storm just happened to culminate in the middle of the
ocean and was producing forty and fifty-foot waves. The crew’s small
fishing boat was not only taking a beating from the huge waves but the
driving rain wasn’t helping much either. Gulp! Can you imagine how
desperate they must have felt? As the boat began to sink, I watched in
horror as each one of the crew fought the inevitable. There were no
rafts, no water wings, and not even a single life jacket to cling to.
And, as each man’s body became immersed in the icy, cold water, his
clothing began to betray him. It became heavier and more cumbersome -
like being trapped in a lead suit. There was absolutely nothing anyone
could do. S-O-S!!! Now that’s dangerous – that’s a picture of
someone in desperate need of rescue.
So, there you have it. I’ve drawn you
two very different pictures of someone in possible need of rescue –
from the safety of a shallow wading pool to the incredible depths of a
violent ocean. Tell me something. As you compare these two scenarios,
which person do you think would be the most grateful if rescued? Would
it be the self-sufficient coed or the guy who just exhaled his last
breath of oxygen? Seems like a no-brainer. Surely the most grateful
person would be the one who clearly saw his or her desperate need for
rescue. Yes, it’s the one without hope. And, so it is with you and me,
dear one.
If you’ll look at chapter three of
the book of Romans, verses 9 through 18, you’ll begin to get a pretty
good picture of how desperately we were in need of rescue when we were
in Adam (the lost, non-believers). "There is none righteous, not
even one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks for
God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is
none who does good, there is not even one..." Now, Paul isn’t
just talking about the Jews; he tells us that "both Jews and Greeks
are all under sin." If you’re not a Jew, then you’re a Greek.
So, that basically includes everyone – all of mankind.
Therefore, as a lost person not one of
us was good or righteous or useful and not one of us was seeking God.
Good gosh, I don’t know about you, but I never saw myself like that!
From my perspective, I didn’t think that I was in that desperate of a
situation, did you? Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it? Kinda like a
young coed in a wading pool…
Paul gets even more specific in Romans
5:6-10. From God’s perspective (which happens to be truth), He saw us
as helpless, as the ungodly, as sinners, as those who needed to be saved
from His wrath and lastly, as His enemies. Double gulp! I repeat - I
didn’t know that I was in such desperate need of rescue. I had never
seen myself in the middle of a raging and violent ocean without water
wings or a life vest. I certainly hadn’t noticed those hundred pound
cinder blocks tied around my ankles. And, you can bet your bottom dollar
that I wasn’t aware that I had already drawn my last breath and was
sitting on the murky bottom. But that was my lot in life…in Adam. And,
that was your situation, too.
But there’s Good News of a great
rescue! As you and I read through Paul’s epistles, we will see the
totality of what God has done on our behalf in and through His Son,
Jesus Christ (Romans 3:19-26; Romans 5:10-21; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; II
Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:1-14; Ephesians 2:1-13 – to mention just
a few). He brought us from absolute death to life eternal. He brought us
from sinner to saint. He paid the price for ALL of our sins - past,
present and future. We are no longer ungodly but have become the
righteousness of God. Our identity has been changed from enemies and
children of wrath to the incredible splendor of being His very own
beloved children. Oh, our rescue was so magnificent – so incredibly
huge!
As you and I learn more about how
desperately we needed to be rescued and how much He has already done on
our behalf, I bet we will begin to experience more and more gratitude
towards Him. And, not in an obligatory way – absolutely not! But in
overwhelming appreciation for His total and complete work on our behalf.
I’ve found that an eternally grateful "thank you" of sorts
keeps coming to my mind, "Oh God, I just didn’t know, I really
didn’t know. But I’m so glad, I am so unbelievably glad that You
did. Thank you. Thank you so much for rescuing me."
Oh my rescue! It was so great, so
enormous! Forget about the shallow wading pool that once sat in my
backyard in Oklahoma and let me rejoice in the enormous, crushing waves
of the deep, deep waters from which I was plucked. Oh how great was His
rescue of me!
"For this reason, I bow my knees
before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives
its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know
the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up
to all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19)
I love you,
Marcy
marcy@gospelfortoday.org
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