Rescued!
Musings from the Garden
By Peggy Wyar
I recently watched an intense movie scene in which a young man, along with his family, had crashed their small plane in the snowy mountains out west. After three days of freezing temperatures and little food or water, they heard the sound of snowmobilers searching for them, but they were too far away to be seen by the search party.
The young man (battling hypothermia) grabbed the last flare, jumped on his snowboard and raced down the mountain to reach the snowmobilers before they left the area. He went as far down as he could, flipped off of his snowboard and struggled up the last ridge separating him from the rescuers. He ignited the flare and threw it as hard and far as he was able…. just as he watched the snowmobiles crest the adjoining ridge and go out of sight. He collapsed face down in the snow in utter defeat.
Then, miraculously, he heard the sound of a single snowmobile coming closer. He looked up (the music swelled) and he knew he was saved!
How many have tried so hard, expended so much effort, and used all their own resources to orchestrate their own salvation? I think we have all tried to save ourselves in some way at some time. To save from being embarrassed, we may stretch the truth about a situation. To be accepted by friends, we may keep quiet when our opinions or convictions don’t line up with the group. When we choose cars, or houses, or friends, or jobs, or educational opportunities that are not our first choices, we may be putting on a facade that we hope will make us acceptable to others.
When the Bible talks about being saved it is referring to the escape from God’s wrath that will be poured out on sinners once this world ends. Can we ever save ourselves from this end times punishment? I think our need has always been for a rescuer to turn us from the pathway to death that our sin guarantees. To be with God forever requires redemption, a purchase of our debt. Just as the young man from the movie, being saved happens by simply getting near to the Rescuer, bowing down in surrender and crying out for Jesus, the Great Rescuer, to find us. He is the One who paid our sin debt by dying on the cross in exchange for our freedom from sin.
Let’s not ever forget that all of us were once enslaved, ensnared, and chained to our own sin in the kingdom of darkness. For those of us who prayed to be delivered, Jesus broke our chains and carried us into His kingdom of light. God then gave us new hearts and adopted us into His forever family. We can now choose to live right.
Colossians 1:13-14 NIV “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Isn’t this what we celebrate at Easter? Jesus made a way when there was no other way for us to be freed from our sin.
Acts 13: 38-39 NIV “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”
John 8:34-36 NIV “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Praise God for His amazing rescue!