Trapped In A Fire
I will praise you, LORD, for you have rescued me (Psalm 30:1, NLT).
Dear Friends,
Their home on fire, a young boy was trapped upstairs. The grandmother attempted to rescue him, but she died in the horrible flames.
A man who saw the fire climbed up an iron drainpipe to the lad’s window. With the boy clinging to his neck and with a firm grip on the drainpipe, he lowered himself and the boy to safety.
Weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who should be given custody of the boy. A teacher, a farmer, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave reasons why they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But the sad boy only stared at the floor.
Then a man walked to the front of the room and announced his desire to adopt the boy. He slipped his hands out of his pockets and held them up for the crowd to see. His palms bore hideous scars.
The boy cried out in recognition and leapt into the man’s arms. This was the man who had saved the child’s life. His hands had been scorched when he climbed up the hot iron pipe. As the boy nestled in the arms of the man who saved his life, the other men walked away. Those scarred hands settled the issue.
In the same way, our Savior’s nail-scarred hands have settled the issue for us. Our Lord’s sacrifice saved us and made us children of God. Like the young boy, we have been “adopted” as God’s sons (Ephesians 1:5, NIV).
As believers, we are not orphans who are homeless without parents or family. We have an incredible parent, our loving Heavenly Father, who cares for us deeply and cares for us each moment of the day. We also have a wonderful family, consisting of brothers and sisters all over the world. And we have a marvelous home waiting for us in eternity.
Even now, we experience comfort, peace, and a sense of belonging through our Father’s Spirit – the Holy Spirit – who has made our heart His home. We are very important to God because we are His dearly beloved children.
For all these wonderful blessings, let us thank God for our Savior’s precious, nail-scarred hands.
Yours for helping to fulfill the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns,
Bill Bright
About the Author
The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world’s population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, “JESUS,” which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Dr. Bright recently co-founded Global Pastors Network to “Touch, Teach and Train” a group of 5 million new house churches around the world 24/7/365 at http://www.globalpastorsnetwork.org.
Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
