For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:23)
This week is the 30 yr. anniversary of “Shark Week” on Discovery channel so I thought I’d share a story that Lee Strobel once told. He told a story about a group on a boat in the ocean a little over a mile from the shoreline, they anchored down and started diving and swimming in the ocean. A short time later one of the young men standing on the deck threw a line and a preserver overboard and told friends to grab it and get back to the boat saying “I’m concerned for your safety”. His friends responded by saying “lighten up, the water is great, jump in and join us”. So this time he tried again with a different approach “guys get out of the water there are three sharks encircling the boat—I didn’t want you to panic!” In hearing the added news his friends all took him up on the offer to be pulled in and get back on the boat.
Isn’t it true that lifelines become much more relevant when we realize that our lives are actually in jeopardy. People don’t get cancer killing radiation unless they know they have the disease. Nobody gets heart surgery until they find out they have a heart problem. We don’t cry for help until we know we are helpless.
The apostle Paul understood this principle well. He laid out the bad news first. He spelled it out for almost the entire first three chapters for Romans coming to a head in Rom. 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Paul explained that morally speaking we are in serious trouble. We are in deep water and the sharks are encircling and death is our future. Once we grasp this we will be ready to hear about a lifeline.
Paul made the lifeline clear in the next verse, Rom. 3:24 “All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” To those who know the sharks are real so is the lifeline. I’m here to tell you spiritually speaking the sharks are real and death is certain for everyone. This is why Paul explains that the lifeline is for all in Rom. 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
In His Service, Eric Barnes
