Monday, October 28, 2013

Sharing the great news of the light that is within us (Mark 5:20)

SCRIPTURE: Mark 5:20 (TM)
The man went back and began to preach in the Ten Towns area about what Jesus had done for him. He was the talk of the town.

STORY:
I remember hearing of a man at sea who was very sea-sick. If there is a time when a man feels that he cannot do any work for the Lord it is then -- in my opinion. While this man was sick he heard that a man had fallen overboard. He was wondering if he could do anything to help to save him. He laid hold of a light, and held it up on the porthole.
The drowning man was saved. When this man got over his attack of sickness he was up on deck one day, and was talking to the man who was rescued. The saved man gave this testimony. He said he had gone down the second time, and was just going down again for the last time, when he put out his hand. Just then, he said, some one held a light at the porthole, and the light fell on his hand. A man caught him by the hand and pulled him into the lifeboat.
It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; yet it saved the man's life. If you cannot do some great thing you can hold the light for some poor, perishing drunkard, who may be won to Christ and delivered from destruction. Let us take the torch of salvation and go into these dark homes, and hold up Christ to the people as the Savior of the world. 

OBSERVATION:
The experience of nearly drowning must be a horrible experience. To be so close… just a handhold away… just beyond being able to climb aboard… almost there, but not quite… does anyone see… does anyone care… is there a light that could guideLet the lower lights be burning, Send a beam across the wave, Some poor aching, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.

That sense of being cut off… going down for the last time… gasping for just another breath… struggling against the forces surrounding us… unable to swim… unable to keep one’s head about water… Let the lower lights be burning, Send a beam across the wave, Some poor aching, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.

We live in a very crowded and busy world. It is filled with “drowning” people. They are so close to life… real life… and they are so far away, but they are not beyond our reach. We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We might not be able to dive in and swim out to rescue them… but we are able to hold up a light… a shining light… a clear beacon showing the way to safety… Let the lower lights be burning, Send a beam across the wave, Some poor aching, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.

Such was the man in the Mark story. He was drowning in a crowd. The crowd was demons of unimaginable portions. Could those demons be of his own making? Could they be creations from his past? Could them be ramifications of a misspent childhood? This one thing we do know … they could destroy him. He needed to be rescued and a light came into his life… it was the light of Christ.

He found life and had to tell everyone what had happened to him because of the one who rescued him.

Each of us has been rescued from something in our life… something that could have destroyed us… something that could have caused us to drown… something of demon-dimensioned (for demons come in various sizes and in various shapes). And then a light came and changed it all. Changed us. We have to tell. You won’t believe me, but … and the story is shared. People hear. Lives are changed. And the world is less dark for someone else. Yea, God!

A beacon in a dark world brightly shines and another poor struggling “seaman” is rescued.

PRAYER:

God, help us to keep our lights lite and our hands ready to be extended to those who might be drowning around us.

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