One day, a wealthy English family invited some friends over to spend some time at their beautiful estate. However, the happy gathering almost turned into a terrible tragedy on the first day, because when the children went swimming, one of them got into deep water and was drowning.
The gardener, hearing the others screaming, immediately plunged into the pool to rescue the helpless victim. That youngster was Winston Churchill. His parents, deeply grateful to the gardener, asked what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, then said, "I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor." "We'll pay his way," replied Churchill's parents.
Years later, when Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. Greatly concerned, King George VI summoned the best physician who could be found to the bedside of the ailing leader. That doctor was Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved Sir Winston Churchill from drowning as a boy!
Imagine that four people are drowning and all of them are given a life-preserver.
The first one looks at it and says,
“I don’t believe it's a life-preserver, and I don’t believe it can save me.”
HE DROWNS.
The second one says,
“I believe it's a
life-preserver, but I don’t believe it can save me.”
HE DROWNS.
The third one says,
“I believe it's a life-preserver, and I believe it can save me," BUT he never grabs hold.
HE DROWNS.
The fourth one says,
“I believe n̈ a life-preserver, and I believe it can save me.” He grabs hold.
HE LIVES.
As far as eternity is concerned, the life-preserver is the Gospel in the form of Jesus Christ. The water is the judgment of God for sins - death.
The first drowning man neither believes in the Gospel nor its effectiveness. This can be a person who is relying on other means of salvation. The second drowning person believes in the basic historic components of the Gospel but does not believe that it will be effective. This might mean that he does not believe that it is effective for him, or he may not believe that it is really effective for anyone. He most probably is saying, "I believe that Jesus died and rose from the grave, but God does not really love me.”
The third drowning person is the most interesting and could well be the most common today. He both believes (intellectually) in the Gospel and believes that the Gospel can save him. But there is never an act of the will to truly trust or rest in Christ. It is often very difficult to distinguish the third type from the fourth. In fact, I think that the third type has fooled themselves into thinking that their intellectual assent will be enough. However, because they never rest in Christ, they are judged along with the others and die.
The fourth is the true believer. Not only do they have enough intellectual assent to believe in the Gospel, and to believe it can save them, they also take the final and necessary step of faith to grab hold of Christ. Through an act of the will, they trust him for salvation. They are saved.
We are all drowning in our sins, but on one glorious day, Jesus did all that was necessary to rescue us from our sins. All we need to do is to take Him and grab hold of Him as our life-preserver today.
I was sinking deep in sin
Far from the peaceful shore
Very deeply stained within
Sinking to rise no more
But the Master of the sea
Heard my despairing cry
From the waters lifted me
Now safe am I
DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (31/05/25)
Written by PETER FRANCIS
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