Walking through the forest, a seasoned hiker came upon a broad,
slowly
moving river. He stopped to gaze over the waters, appreciating
the beauty,
when suddenly he heard a faint cry coming from upstream.
Looking in the direction of the noise, he saw an obviously
drowning man
floundering in the river and drifting slowly toward him.
The hiker was stunned momentarily, but he sprang into action
when he saw the
man disappear beneath the waters. Throwing off all of his
cumbersome gear,
he dove into the river and swam like a madman toward the spot
where the man
went under.
Upon reaching the spot he plunged below the surface and
frantically hauled
up the helpless man. He then laboriously towed the victim to
shore.
Heaving the lifeless body up on the riverbank, the hiker
attempted to revive
the man, who eventually spit up water and began to breathe.
Relieved, the hiker paused to catch his breath. But no sooner
had he done
so than he heard another voice out on the water. Another
drowning person!
Once again he swam out and pulled the person to shore, a little
more slowly
this time. As the hiker-turned-lifeguard revived the second
victim, he
heard yet another cry for help.
All day long the hiker worked, rescuing one person after another
as they
came drifting down the river. There seemed to be no end of
drowning
victims, and the hiker didn't think he could keep it up.
Just when he was about to collapse from exhaustion, he spotted
another man
walking rapidly beside the river, headed upstream. "Hey
mister!" he cried
out. "Please help me! These poor people are drowning!"
Amazingly, the man kept walking upstream. The astonished hiker
called out
again. Without even acknowledging the cry, the man kept going.
Indignant
and angry, the hiker leapt to his feet, ran toward the
uncompassionate man,
stood directly in his path, and in a loud voice demanded, "Sir!
How can you
possibly walk past all these drowning people? Have you no
conscience? Must
I force you to help me save these people?"
The stranger stopped, looked at him for the first time and said
with a calm,
focused voice, "Sir, please get out of my way. I am headed
upstream to stop
the guy who is pushing all these people in."
Each of us has a role to play in rescuing those who are drowning
in sin.
Some of us pull people from the water and resuscitate them with
counseling,
food and shelter, a rehabilitation program, a support group, or
financial
aid. Affirm those doing these important ministries.
Others of us find our place of ministry upstream, opposing the
one pushing
people into the river. We do this by introducing those people
to Jesus
Christ. Knowing Christ sets a person free from sin and releases
them from
Satan's power over them.
By itself, pulling people from the water isn't enough.
We need to help people deal with the problem of sin at its
source.
Author Unknown