Have you seen the pictures of those being saved from Harvey’s destruction?  What could be said of them?

 “You look horrible.”  “Your clothes are a mess.”  “When is the last time you showered?”  “Have you even fed your children today?”  “Why do you live in a flood zone?”  “Why didn’t you leave everything and run to safety?”  “Why weren’t you prepared for this?”

 Unthinkable, right?  Only the most depraved and contemptible mind would think to oppress them in their distress.

 Isn’t this how we should see the Lord’s church?  Aren’t Christians simply those who understand their own horrible condition and need for salvation?  We need saving, not to be judged, but to escape judgment.

 Do you suppose any of the folks who’ve gone to Houston with their boats went looking only for white folks, or black folks, or rich, poor, Christian, heathen folks to save?  Of course not.  They went in search of anyone who needed saving.

 They mimic Jesus who has come for us, not because we are good, but because he is good, and we have nothing to offer in return but faith and gratitude.

 We probably like to think of ourselves as being in the place of the heroic rescuers.  We are in fact the ones who are stranded, miserable, helpless and in need of rescue.

 If we see ourselves as we truly are, we will not give the slightest thought to dismissing any boat that comes for us.  Instead, we will happily climb aboard to be taken to safety and to be comforted by those whose care for our welfare has compelled them to leave their own comforts and launch out into the deep.

 There he is.  There is God coming into view.  He does not come to judge, but to save.  He comes in a marvelous ark fashioned from wood that was once a bloodstained cross.  Climb aboard to your salvation.