Archive Poster : September 2015
On August 16, 2015, a quiet Sunday night, Andrew Grace was at his home in Tamarama, Sydney. Thirty minutes later, he had saved a man's life. As he told the Sydney Morning Herald, he could clearly hear a drowning man's cry, 'Help, help, help' coming from the ocean. Andrew Grace is an experienced surfer and knows enough about life saving to pull a grown, floundering man from the dark sea. More than that, he's brave. He's the kind of man most Australians would like to identify with - concerned for others, clearly capable, a hero. To the man he rescued, he was, quite literally, a saviour.
In most communities and cultures self-reliance is a virtue. It's okay to help others but we're meant to be fine ourselves... to be able to fix our own problems.
However, there is one area where all of us - no matter how capable, strong, self-reliant, or wealthy - need help. A consistent message running through the Bible is that we cannot make our own way to God. We cannot, on our own, make everything all right between us and God. The Bible paints a sobering picture of us humans struggling and floundering as we attempt to please God with good things that we've done. But they don't solve anything. Only Jesus can help. Only Jesus's death on the cross can pay for the wrong things we've done to others and to God. Only Jesus's love can rescue us from the judgment of God.
So, if you'd like to be rescued what should you do? The Bible doesn't say, 'For all who give 10% of their income to the poor will be saved.' Nor does it say, 'For all who attend church twice a week will be saved.' It's much simpler than that. The Bible tells us to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Here is the clear promise of the Bible,
"For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"
Calling on Jesus is like what that drowning man did in the ocean off Sydney. He believed someone could rescue him. Calling on Jesus means believing that Jesus is who he said he is - God in the flesh - the source of life - the one who came to bring you home to God. Everyone needs to be saved from God's judgment. So please don't drown when Jesus has done exactly what's needed to save you. Call on the name of Jesus.
Prayer: Dear God, give me strength to call on the name of Jesus. Help me to trust him so that I might be saved. Amen
Verse: "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" Romans 10:13.
