Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

• Acts 16:30-31

“No man has any hope for eternal salvation apart from trusting completely in Jesus Christ and His atonement for men. Simply stated, our Lord Jesus is the lifeboat and we must fully and truly be committed to trusting the lifeboat.
“Again, our Lord and Savior is the rope by which it is possible to escape from the burning building. There is no doubt about it—either we trust that rope or we perish.
“He is the wonder drug or medication that heals all ills and sicknesses and if we refuse it, we die.
“He is the bridge from hell to heaven—and we take the bridge and cross over by His grace or we stay in hell.
“These are simple illustrations, but they get to the point of the necessity of complete trust in Jesus Christ—absolute trust in Him!”

• A. W. Tozer, Who Put Jesus on the Cross?

Rev. Tozer, in these few words, says that we must have complete trust.  I have used the phrase unconditional surrender.  There are various words to express it.

My wife reminded me recently that some of my early words in our marriage were a little different.  She said that I used to say that you should not straddle the fence.

If you combine that with the lifeboat metaphor, just think of what will happen.  I have seen it.  A person has one foot in the rowboat and one foot on the dock.  Then, without noticing where his feet are placed, someone else unties the boat from the dock.  What will happen?

With nothing anchoring the boat to the dock, the boat will drift.  The person will stand as long as the person is able to do the splits, but eventually, the person is going in the water.  A lifeboat has difficulty in saving you when you fall out of the lifeboat.  Rev. Tozer should stress when saying something like truly being committed and trusting in the lifeboat that you put both feet into the lifeboat.

That is our problem, or was it just me, when we straddle a fence or try to ride in a lifeboat, but we keep one foot on the dock.

When we make that total commitment (another way to say it) Jesus will enter your life and never leave.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.