I was thinking about the time we rented a pontoon boat and went down to the river with friends.  We pulled an inner tube behind the boat like skiing and everyone was having a great time on the tube, including the young lady who was paralyzed on her right side due to a brain hemorrhage when she was a teenager.  Getting back into the boat was pretty easy for everyone else, but there was no way that young lady could get in using only her left hand and leg.  So, my husband and the young lady’s boyfriend had to pull her up into the boat.  She couldn’t do anything except LET them pull her into the boat.

So, what’s so significant about that?

Well, that’s very much like how we come to Christ, and how we remain in Christ.  There’s absolutely nothing we can do on our own to come to Him, or to live “the Christian life”- He alone gives these gifts to us, keeps us in Him (John 10:27-29, Galatians 2:20-21, Ephesians 2:5-10, Philippians 1:6).  It’s Jesus, from start to finish.

What could our responses be?  Like the young lady, we could LET Jesus pull us into His boat, and LET Him do His work in us.  Or, instead of cooperating with her assistants, the young lady could have ignored them, even fought them.  That’s what happens sometimes when someone tries to rescue a drowning person.  The drowning person panics, and can pull the rescuer under with him.  We can ignore God, try to get to Him on our own terms, or outright rail against Him.

The drowning victim doesn’t go looking for his rescuer, either.  He’s really not in any kind of shape to do so, is he?  The rescuer comes looking for him, just like Jesus came looking for us.  Remember the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7)?  The shepherd had 100 sheep, but when just one of them got lost, he went looking for that lone lamb.  He wasn’t willing that even one should be lost.

Salvation is all a sovereign work of God’s grace to us and in us.  He came looking for us when we wouldn’t and couldn’t, when we didn’t even know we needed Him.  Even the ability to choose is a gift from Him.  Some people choose to open that gift and accept it; but others leave the package unopened, never receiving the gift.

As I said in my post “Faith is a Gift”, I encourage each and every one to open that gift of faith and grace.  And you know, if you open that box, you’ll never empty it out.  There’ll always be more grace and blessing in the box for us.

So, hop in!