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RESCUING THE
LOST
We ordinarily
think of rescue
operations
occurring at
distasteful
circumstances...a
man trapped in
a burning
building...a
child swept
down a
torrential
stream, miners
trapped and
asking for
breath...in a
deep coal
shaft. However
a man working
in an office, a
child fishing
from the creek
bank, or miners
extracting coal
from black
mining
veins are not
typical
scenarios
It is
different for
many to view
man's extreme
need of rescue
from
God. We appear
to be
self-sufficient
and able to
make it through
precarious
situations.
But that is not
God's view.
From His
prospective...the
right one....we
are in
desperate need
of rescue.
Our wealth,
position or
status in our
culture cannot
deliver us.
Our
wisdom is
barren, our
technology
useless
Christianity is
a rescue
religion. It
is the Hand of
God reaching
down and
pulling a man
out of his
helpless state
of sin. The
scripture
describes the
unbelievers as
dead in sin, a
captive of the
devil, living
in spiritual
darkness
Such is the
helpless state
of mankind
apart from
God. But the
God
who cares will
not leave us in
this
predicament if
we will take
his
outstretched
arms and be
pulled to
safety
I am reaching
out for God's
hands. I want
Him to rescue
me and
pull me to
safety. I
don't want to
live in
spiritual
darkness. We
sometimes go
through stages
of darkness,
and feel we
have already
been to hell
and back. But
I know I have
no inkling of
what hell
really is. So
I ask the Lord
to rescue me
from the pits
and let me
live with and
for Him
©Shirley
Updike
June 7, 2005
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