Iceberg! Right Ahead!

Are there enough lifeboats for everybody?
Ok, the image is a cliche', but the question is a valid one.

It is at least valid as it pertains not to any impending sea voyage you might be contemplating (though if you are taking one, that should be tops on the list) but to our voyage through life.  Are there enough lifeboats for everybody?

The short answer is yes.  The longer answer begins with a question: Do you consider yourself saved?  If you do, then the answer is an unqualified "yes!" There is only one lifeboat but it has room for everyone.

 Part of the problem with us as people is the way we are trained to respond to a crisis.  Everybody hates going through the lifeboat drill on a cruise, it is tedious and in a weird way kind of frightening, because it forces you to contemplate the possibility of the ship actually sinking.  We would rather get to the fun stuff.  Wheeee, they have a rock climbing wall!  The people in charge run these drills though, because they (and we, in our heart of hearts) know that in a moment of crisis we will forget everything that was told to us about safety and exiting a sinking ship unless it is drilled into us.  Many of us, not all but many, don't plan for a crisis and certainly you can't plan for every contingency.

This thought has been brewing for several days, since Sunday actually.  The question arose at our church service from the pastor, asking what are we going to do differently in our Christian lives?  The answer came to me, that I will do my best to make sure my friends and family are saved.  Christ, the Cross and Grace are probably not the best themes to associate with a lifeboat, because they represent so much more!  Yet we are people who tend to respond only when the screws are put to us, only when we are under pressure.  God and the status of your eternal soul can take a back seat when it is time to get home for the Steeler's game, or when things are going well.  Then its easy to rationalize it as a gambler's choice, or as an insurance policy for those who are desperate, until we too are up against a wall.

Why wait until the iceberg has struck? (and there are many in our lives, some big, some small, some half melted lurking under the surface which we don't see until we've actually hit them.)

Why wait to commit your life to Jesus when you could be enjoying the benefits now?  Its about more than warm blankets and the promise of a ship on the horizon to pluck you out of the water.  Its about having that life-vest on ALL the time, so you'll know without a doubt, because you can be pitched overboard at any moment and not see it coming.

I will be blogging about this again, maybe not with the same imagery, but again never the less.
Why, you ask?

Because I would rather have everyone on board with me, not be looking back at them standing on the fantail to be counted among the lost.  Because there's more than enough room for everybody, and we have the best possible steersman at the rudder.

Are you lost?  Here's the best part.  You don't have to hit every iceberg!
Before that big one strikes, come and be saved.