June 4, 2019
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Our friends Roy and Judy have been married for almost 30 years. But there are two words that took a beating early in their marriage and they still get a rise out of Judy to this day believe it or not. The words "trust me." You know there's got to be a story here. Years ago, Roy decided to try his hand sailing one of those little Sunfish type sailboats. He wanted Judy to go with him. Her back was really bothering her, but he assured her that he knew what he was doing. Of course, every guy does! "Trust me," he said. One problem: as they sailed away, the rudder kept coming off. That's all. That's rudder, as in what steers the boat. Well, Judy was extremely unhappy when rudderlessness ultimately led them to capsizing - a boat with a ten-foot mast stuck upside down in six feet of water. Beautiful picture huh? So much for "trust me."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Rudderless."
That poor young husband! It's tough to be trying to sail without a rudder to guide you. It's actually a feeling a lot of folks know, even if they've never been on a sailboat in their life. In fact, it's our lives that often seem rudderless - drifting with no real sense of direction. It doesn't matter how big or how small your life is, it can still feel rudderless.
There's this feeling that I call pointlessness - the recurring sense that my life, however full and however successful, just seems so pointless...missing the meaning that makes it all make sense. And along the way, there have been people and things that have seemed to say, "Trust me" but they let us down. We're victims of disappointed trust, all of us, aren't we? Not sure where the rudder is that will help us find some direction.
The Bible explains our sense of rudderlessness, our sense of pointlessness when it says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We were created in such a way that our life can only make sense when the One who created us is running it. But we've taken command instead, happy to let God run the universe, but unwilling to let Him run us. So we're drifting, sometimes even shipwrecked. Away from the only person who has the plan for our life. We are, to use the Bible's word for it, "lost."
Then along comes Jesus. He said He had come to "seek and save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). That saving involved the total sacrifice of His life for us, dying on the cross to absorb the awful death penalty for our spiritual rebellion. His cross became the bridge to the Creator that we've been lonely for all these years. So, in John 10:10, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is able to say, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." In other words, the life you were made for.
When Jesus says, "Trust Me," you can, because this man loved you enough to die for you, He will never do you wrong. But you're rudderless until you anchor your life to Him. You do that by putting your total trust in Him to forgive every wrong thing you have ever done and to remove forever that wall between you and God. There's no religion involved here. This is a life-giving love relationship with Jesus Christ which you can begin right now, right where you are.
If you want to begin a relationship with Jesus, would you tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm done running my life. I've tried that. I want to do it Your way. I believe You died for me. I believe You rose from the dead, You walked out of Your grave and I want You to walk into my life today. No one's ever loved me like You have. And beginning right now, I'm Yours."
Our website is for exactly someone like you at a moment like this and I would encourage you to go there and get the information from God's word that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus. That website is ANewStory.com.
The pointless voyage can end today if you'll let Jesus take the helm of your life. You know what will happen? He'll take you where you were made to be.