It’s Worth Drastic Measures
How far would you go to try to save someone from a dangerous, life-threatening situation? How drastic would you get to try to save someone from a burning building?
Firefighters in the town of Camden, New Jersey recently had to make just such a decision. They received a call, hurried to the fire, and began to do their important work. Fearing there might be people inside the burning building, they knew they had to work very quickly.
But there was a problem: a vehicle (on the picture, it looks like a minivan) was parked right in front of the hydrant they needed to use to fight this fire. Now, of course, it is illegal to park there, but there was no time to find the vehicle’s owner, explain the law, and kindly ask that the automobile be moved.
Since lives were potentially at stake, the firefighters needed a direct line for their hose, so they busted out the driver’s and passenger’s windows and ran the hose through the vehicle. Thankfully, due to their work, no one was even injured in the fire.
Knowing the danger of the situation, few, if any, would question the decision those firefighters made. Yes, this was someone’s vehicle, but there was the possibility of a human being getting hurt badly or even killed in the fire. Suddenly, breaking a couple of windows just does not seem like such a major deal. The measures used might have seemed drastic, except the situation called for such.
We understand and appreciate that type of effort in trying to save someone’s life physically. That said, to what measures will we go to try to save someone spiritually from the eternal fires of hell?
In the short letter of Jude, Christians are told to “keep [themselves] in the love of God” and to wait “for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (verse 21). We are in the faith, so we need to do what we can to stay in the faith.
But what if some have not done that? What if someone has been in the faith, but has decided to wander from it? Should we just smugly act as if that is their own fault and we are going to just work on ourselves and let them suffer the consequences of their choice?
Not according to Jude! He wrote, “And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire” (verses 22-23). There is urgency there. We do not wait to try to do this. We realize the seriousness of the situation and we snatch them out of it!
We do not question the urgency and methods of those firefighters to potentially save a physical life. What, then, should stop us from being even more urgent to save someone from the eternal fires of hell?
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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn
