Charlie Sheen is sinking ... fast. Some might say that Charlie has been sinking, or already been sunk, for a long time. I expect all of us know someone who is sinking or has sunk.
Especially memorable and sorrowful are people who in the past won our respect or admiration. It may be a teacher, preacher, athlete, business person, or even a family member. It is well possible that someone who is reading this article right now is sinking, and perhaps nobody even knows it. The truth is, it could happen to any of us. "But by the grace of God, go I."
Especially memorable and sorrowful are people who in the past won our respect or admiration. It may be a teacher, preacher, athlete, business person, or even a family member. It is well possible that someone who is reading this article right now is sinking, and perhaps nobody even knows it. The truth is, it could happen to any of us. "But by the grace of God, go I."
This morning I read a devotional sermon by George H. Morrison entitled, "Beginning to Sink." It is based on events in the life of the Apostle Peter. The text is from Matthew 14:30, "Beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me." I have edited and condensed the sermon and written it below.
The Pathos of a Wasted Life
Men who are sunken--women who are sunken--are the heartbreak of the home and of the city. There is such infinite pathetic waste in a wasted, miserable life. But to the seeing eye and the perceiving heart, there is another spectacle which is not less tragic--it is that of the person who is beginning to sink.
Our Best Qualities May Be Our Ruin
Our perils do not always reach us through our worst. Our perils sometimes reach us through our best: through what is charming in us, delightful, and enthusiastic. That is why every person needs to be saved not only from their sin but from themself. That is why God, in His holy love to save us, gave us not a message but a Man. For our brightest social qualities may wreck us. A touch of genius may be our ruin. For all that is implied in that word temperament, we need the keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sinking amid Familiar Surroundings
It is a very sad and pitiable thing when a person begins to sink away from home, when they go away into a distant land and forgets the God of their father and their mother. But the peril for each one of us is the peril of Peter on the lake of Galilee--that we begin to sink amid familiar waters. Beginning to sink in India is sad; beginning to sink at home is almost worse; forgetting the sanctuary and the bended knee, the purity and temperance and tenderness. And if there is anyone who is beginning to sink at home, amid those who love and pray, now is the time to cry as Peter cried, "Lord, save me, or I perish."
Sinking after Loyal Discipleship
And the sad thing is that in every community there are men and women who begin to sink, not in their raw and inexperienced youth, but after years of discipleship and service. Sometimes it is the deceitfulness of riches which causes it. Sometimes it is growing absorption in business. Sometimes it is the constant subtle influence of one who is unspiritual in the home. Sometimes it is weariness in well doing and the dropping of the life to lower levels from secret clingings that no one knows but God. No one would say such lives were sunken lives. I am not speaking of moral wrecks and tragedies. I am speaking of people who are still of good repute, still kind at home, still diligent in business. And yet one feels they have begun to sink; they are not the person we remember in the morning; there is a different accent in their speech and a different atmosphere around their character. People need to be awakened out of their security, as Peter was wakened on the sea of Galilee, to recall their past discipleship and to compare it with what they are now, and then to cry, as Simon Peter cried, "Lord, save me, or I perish."
Sinking While Obeying Christ
And so do I learn that on permitted paths--on ways that are sanctioned by the voice of heaven--it is possible now, as on the lake of Galilee, for men and women to begin to sink. There are ways that are forbidden to every child of man. God writes His flaming "No Thoroughfare" upon them. And just for the reason that this is a righteous universe, the person who sets foot on them begins to sink immediately. But the strange thing is that even when God says "Come," and opens up the way that we may walk in it, even there it is always possible to sink. That is true of the blessedness of home. It is true of all social and Christian service. And a person may preach the everlasting Gospel, yet run the risk of being cast away. And therefore amid all our privileges and all the gifts which God has blessed us with, "Lord, save us, or we perish."
Sinking When Begin to Fear
In the perilous calling of the spiritual life, to lose heart is to lose everything. And that is why the Lord is always saying to us, "My child, give me your heart," for only in His keeping is it safe. It is a simple message--looking unto Jesus, and yet it is the message of salvation. To trust in Him and to keep the eye on Him is the one secret of all Christian victory. And when we have failed to do so in the stress of life, as all of us, like Simon Peter, fail, then there is nothing left but to cry with Peter, "Lord, save me, or I perish."
Sinking Unobserved
There are some people just like Simon Peter. They have not sunk yet, they are not degraded; they are just beginning to sink. Yet no one at home knows anything about it; no one suspects it or has ever dreamed of it; no one would believe it for a moment. When a person has sunk, then there is no disguising. The story is written that the person who runs may read. There is nothing hidden but it shall be revealed, whether of things in heaven or things in hell. But when a person is just beginning to sink it may be utterly different from that; it may be a secret between themself and God. Their nearest and dearest may not dream of it; their mother and father may be in total ignorance. And the person may come to church and engage in Christian service and take their place at the communion table. And we say of them, How well they are getting on--what a fine young person they are turning out to be. And all the time, unheard and unobserved, the person is crying, "Lord, save me, or I perish." It ought to make us very tenderhearted. It ought to make us always very prayerful. There are things happening among us which we never suspect, of which we never dream.
Christ Is Never Far Away
My friend, just beginning to sink, will you remember that Christ is at your side? All human help may seem very far away; remember that He is not very far away. He is near you now; near you where you sit. You need Him sorely and He is there for you. Cry out now, "Lord, save me, or I perish," and He will do it to the uttermost for you.
To read the original unedited sermon of George Morrison, click here.
Men who are sunken--women who are sunken--are the heartbreak of the home and of the city. There is such infinite pathetic waste in a wasted, miserable life. But to the seeing eye and the perceiving heart, there is another spectacle which is not less tragic--it is that of the person who is beginning to sink.
Our Best Qualities May Be Our Ruin
Our perils do not always reach us through our worst. Our perils sometimes reach us through our best: through what is charming in us, delightful, and enthusiastic. That is why every person needs to be saved not only from their sin but from themself. That is why God, in His holy love to save us, gave us not a message but a Man. For our brightest social qualities may wreck us. A touch of genius may be our ruin. For all that is implied in that word temperament, we need the keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sinking amid Familiar Surroundings
It is a very sad and pitiable thing when a person begins to sink away from home, when they go away into a distant land and forgets the God of their father and their mother. But the peril for each one of us is the peril of Peter on the lake of Galilee--that we begin to sink amid familiar waters. Beginning to sink in India is sad; beginning to sink at home is almost worse; forgetting the sanctuary and the bended knee, the purity and temperance and tenderness. And if there is anyone who is beginning to sink at home, amid those who love and pray, now is the time to cry as Peter cried, "Lord, save me, or I perish."
Sinking after Loyal Discipleship
And the sad thing is that in every community there are men and women who begin to sink, not in their raw and inexperienced youth, but after years of discipleship and service. Sometimes it is the deceitfulness of riches which causes it. Sometimes it is growing absorption in business. Sometimes it is the constant subtle influence of one who is unspiritual in the home. Sometimes it is weariness in well doing and the dropping of the life to lower levels from secret clingings that no one knows but God. No one would say such lives were sunken lives. I am not speaking of moral wrecks and tragedies. I am speaking of people who are still of good repute, still kind at home, still diligent in business. And yet one feels they have begun to sink; they are not the person we remember in the morning; there is a different accent in their speech and a different atmosphere around their character. People need to be awakened out of their security, as Peter was wakened on the sea of Galilee, to recall their past discipleship and to compare it with what they are now, and then to cry, as Simon Peter cried, "Lord, save me, or I perish."
Sinking While Obeying Christ
And so do I learn that on permitted paths--on ways that are sanctioned by the voice of heaven--it is possible now, as on the lake of Galilee, for men and women to begin to sink. There are ways that are forbidden to every child of man. God writes His flaming "No Thoroughfare" upon them. And just for the reason that this is a righteous universe, the person who sets foot on them begins to sink immediately. But the strange thing is that even when God says "Come," and opens up the way that we may walk in it, even there it is always possible to sink. That is true of the blessedness of home. It is true of all social and Christian service. And a person may preach the everlasting Gospel, yet run the risk of being cast away. And therefore amid all our privileges and all the gifts which God has blessed us with, "Lord, save us, or we perish."
Sinking When Begin to Fear
In the perilous calling of the spiritual life, to lose heart is to lose everything. And that is why the Lord is always saying to us, "My child, give me your heart," for only in His keeping is it safe. It is a simple message--looking unto Jesus, and yet it is the message of salvation. To trust in Him and to keep the eye on Him is the one secret of all Christian victory. And when we have failed to do so in the stress of life, as all of us, like Simon Peter, fail, then there is nothing left but to cry with Peter, "Lord, save me, or I perish."
Sinking Unobserved
There are some people just like Simon Peter. They have not sunk yet, they are not degraded; they are just beginning to sink. Yet no one at home knows anything about it; no one suspects it or has ever dreamed of it; no one would believe it for a moment. When a person has sunk, then there is no disguising. The story is written that the person who runs may read. There is nothing hidden but it shall be revealed, whether of things in heaven or things in hell. But when a person is just beginning to sink it may be utterly different from that; it may be a secret between themself and God. Their nearest and dearest may not dream of it; their mother and father may be in total ignorance. And the person may come to church and engage in Christian service and take their place at the communion table. And we say of them, How well they are getting on--what a fine young person they are turning out to be. And all the time, unheard and unobserved, the person is crying, "Lord, save me, or I perish." It ought to make us very tenderhearted. It ought to make us always very prayerful. There are things happening among us which we never suspect, of which we never dream.
Christ Is Never Far Away
My friend, just beginning to sink, will you remember that Christ is at your side? All human help may seem very far away; remember that He is not very far away. He is near you now; near you where you sit. You need Him sorely and He is there for you. Cry out now, "Lord, save me, or I perish," and He will do it to the uttermost for you.
To read the original unedited sermon of George Morrison, click here.
1 comment:
No, I don't believe I'm sinking right now, but you are so right that it can happen to anyone.
God bless you
Post a Comment