It Was Done for You

Hallelujah!! I got my vehicle transmission done! It got to a point I didn’t know if it was going to shift anymore and definitely afraid it was going to just quit working all together leaving me stranded in the middle of the road somewhere. A long time ago my father instilled in me that no matter your knowledge you’re probably going to have the need for a good trustworthy mechanic to do any major repair work, so always try to keep a good working relationship with one throughout your life. Well, that’s one piece of advice I did adhere to and like a trustworthy personal physician or best friend, a good mechanic is priceless at times. In this case I have the basic knowledge of the workings of an automatic transmission, but I needed a specialist to perform the operation to restore it to like new condition. Just getting it out of and back into the vehicle is a chore in its self, but the gazillion parts that make up the clockworks of an automatic transmission forces me to turn the job over to someone who knows how, saving me from disaster.
A severe potato famine in the nineteenth century motivated many Irish to come to the New World to find new opportunities. One desperate teenage boy, not having money for fare to board a ship to the New World, secretly boarded as a stow-away. The ship, unfortunately, hit an iceberg, began to sink and passengers started filling lifeboats escaping to safety. At first the boy, who had been hiding in the hull of the ship, was not aware of what was going on. When he realized what was happening, he rushed up to the deck just in time to see the captain taking the last seat in the last lifeboat. Then, in the highest tradition of the sea, the captain got out of the lifeboat and gave the boy his seat. As the lifeboat pulled away the captain said to the boy, “Never forget what’s been done for you.” The young man became successful in the New World and when asked the secret of his great motivation he would always answer, “Whenever I begin to doubt or let up from what I ought to be doing, I always remember a captain standing on the deck of a sinking ship professing, Never forget what’s been done for you.”
[Hebrews 11:6] (NAS) And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him. It is said that we’re all riding in the same boat, so it’s imperative that we all try our best to get along. Unfortunately we’re all on a ship that has struck an iceberg called sin, our ship is sinking and there isn’t a thing we can do about it. Like passengers aboard the unsinkable Titanic, some refuse to believe that the ship is doomed to destruction and all the explanations of the failures of the internal workings of the ship won’t change their mind, until their feet start getting wet. Then there are those who calmly listen to the captain, as He explains that there is one lifeboat, and unlike the Titanic, this lifeboat is capable of saving every single passenger. Yes, life aboard this planet earth is going to end for each and every one of us one day; statistically speaking 1:1 are going to die. Have you looked for the lifeboat yet? Let me put it this way. God has done everything in His power to show us His love and present to us His saving grace. He points to the cross of Calvary and says, “Never forget what’s been done for you!” I don’t totally understand all the workings of salvation, and maybe never will. But Jesus has already performed that operation for you and me. Faith is the lifeboat that will take us home. …Priceless!