Free falling from a plane sounds like a terrifying experience at the best of times unless you like that adrenaline rush. Imagine, however, that the parachute attached to you was faulty. You couldn’t open it and you were falling. Falling. Falling. I couldn’t imagine what would be racing through my mind at this point. Could you? Your safety net had been taken away from you. It was just you and the air.
In the news today, that is exactly what happened to a parachutist from the Red Devils, an army freefall parachute display team: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-33209713
Free Falling
The Red Devils were performing at an airshow when one of the parachutes failed which left one parachutist falling quickly. What I love about this story is how one of the parachutists came to his team-mate’s rescue, and between them both they managed to manoeuvre to safety.
We can sometimes feel like we are free falling through life where everything feels like it is spinning out of control. We long for safety and protection when we feel like everything is about to crash around us.
The truth is we have all been saved from falling.
God had a plan from the beginning to rescue us.
We have messed up, made poor choices, hurt others, hurt ourselves, rejected God. We have walked through life with no sense of direction and have stumbled from one area of our lives to the next. Free falling.
The Rescue Plan
What is the point or the purpose of life? Everything is surely meaningless. We are born. We live. We die. Right?
Wrong.
God has rescued us through his Son, Jesus Christ. He has caught us in mid-air. Rather than holding us up by a parachute, He is with us constantly, and we are rooted and grounded in Him from the moment we believe that we are so loved and so worth it because of His love, His grace & His mercy that He has for each one of us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:39).
Imagine if the parachutist whose parachute had failed did not cooperate with the team-mate who was trying to rescue them. Instead of working as a team and landing in a place of safety, the parachutist said: “I am going to work this out on my own! Don’t worry about me!”
Chances are he or she would not be alive today.
However, the parachutist recognised that their team-mate was a life line – their only chance of escaping a nasty death.
In a similar way, we could say to God: “Don’t worry about me God. I am going to go through life without you. I don’t need you. In fact, I don’t need saving.”
Truth is, we have effectively chosen to reject our Rescuer. We have chosen to say “no” to life. Life that is full of meaning and purpose. By not choosing God, we are effectively like the parachutist without a parachute. Free falling through life with a certainty of an unhappy ending. Hell is effectively the choice to live a life without God. Hell is the option chosen by people who do not want the Lord Jesus in their life.
Why would you want to be in heaven with God for eternity if you spend your entire earthly life rejecting Him? Why would you want to reject Christ’s love in the first place?
The cross of Christ is our lifeline to God. It is more than a parachute. It is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).
Do you really want to free fall through life without God?
All I know is that I want to stretch out my arms and reach out my hands in praise to God who has come to my rescue. He is faithful to save as He reaches down and guides us to a place of safety and refuge.
Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. Psalm 16:1
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:2
An Anchored Hope 