In God is Our Help

On my way home from a meeting this morning, I could see a line of traffic extending towards me from the intersection of Windsor and Samantha Riley Drive.  The coloured lights of a fire truck, police cars, and ambulances flashing through the boughs of swaying trees told me there had been an accident.  The 10 minute wait as traffic was an unexpected setback, but was nothing like the shock and serious injury of being the one in the smashed vehicle.  A blue hatchback suffered severe damage, and the airbags had been deployed from a frontal collision.  I could drive away from the accident as a bystander, but as I did I thought how there are likely some people who will carry physical injuries and frightening memories for the rest of their lives.

Life can change in an instant.  As durable and hardy as people are, life is a most fragile gift.  I expect the driver of that blue car expected to reach his or her intended destination.  But instead they were rushed to hospital in an ambulance as they received treatment for injuries.  We all know "accidents happen," but we are still shocked when they happen to us.  Planes crash, boats sink, people are mugged, abducted, raped, and murdered.  Sudden illness and injury and can permanently change our lives.  No one plans to have a heart attack, stroke, or to have to learn to eat, talk, or walk again later in life.  We see these things happen all around us and know that sooner or later the reality of the frailty of human life will strike closer to home than we ever imagined.  Only faith in God and His Word can aid us in successfully navigating the troubled, unpredictable waters of life on earth.

It is at this point where I am greeted by a greater tragedy than the ills of a world steeped in sin:  the tragedy of men, women, and youth who have been exposed to the saving life of Jesus Christ and choose to walk away from Him.  I cannot count how many young people I have witnessed be brought up hearing the words of life and choose to walk away.  They know with their brains the truth that will set them free but they choose instead a life of bondage to sin.  Intoxicated by the passing pleasures of sin, they choose death.  They reject Jesus Christ, the One who died so they might live.  It is something akin to horror I unfortunately know only too well, when I see a life once verbally consecrated to God now marked with profanity, fornication, immorality, and godlessness.  These nominal, illegitimate Christians fit well the description of Titus 1:16:  "They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work."  It is the obedience of a follower of Jesus Christ that proves his faith genuine.  Unless we obey Jesus, He is no Saviour of ours.  Hebrews 5:9 says, "And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him...".

What joy we have in knowing that even if we are foolish to wander from Christ, salvation is offered to all who repent and return to Him.  Hosea 13:9 reads, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."  Man is a master of self-destruction, because all his natural appetites are drawn to feast upon sin, and final result of sin is death.  It tastes sweet to the tongue but is bitter poison in our bellies:  it is deceptive food.  In God we find help, forgiveness, deliverance, salvation, and strength for the day.  One person dying as a result of sin is too many, and no one goes to hell by accident.  Man should not be surprised when death comes to collect his just due.  Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Allow me to offer a word of encouragement for all who grieve because you know one who has wandered from Christ.  Paul shared the Gospel with Onesimus, a slave who had run away from his master.  Onesimus responded to the message of salvation, became a Christian, and had become profitable to Paul and others with his service.  Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with these encouraging words concerning his once wayward slave:  Philemon 1:15 reads, "For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever..."  God's purposes are not thwarted when people wander from Christ and fellowship.  God sometimes allows people to depart for a season where they experience hardship so they might be humbled and return to Him for good.  The prodigal son was such a man.  I was such a man.  Many people I know who have been greatly used by God as steadfast and faithful disciples were not always so.  God loved them enough to let them depart and suffer so they might seek their healing only in Him.

If man had it his own way, he would destroy himself.  But God, who is rich in mercy and not willing that any should perish, is willing to allow people to fall so He might pick them up.  May we be those who are wise to abide in Him forever!