(Eze 33:6 – 8) “But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”
I wish I were eloquent enough to express my disbelief regarding this story out of Cocoa, FL. In 2017, it was reported that a man drowned in a retention pond as several 14 to 16 year old boys nearby filmed him flailing desperately, mocking and laughing. They even told the drowning man that they were not going to help. The inhumane, callous, immoral behavior expressed by these kids is so despicable and tragic that I cannot remotely understand why even fallen men would sink so low. Here is a link to the story: https://www.foxnews.com/us/teens-filmed-laughed-while-man-slowly-drowned-authorities-say
However, while fuming at the reality of this, I asked myself: How many times have I passed someone on their way to a Christ-less eternity without so much as pointing them to the Savior?
The reality is that men are drowning everyday in their sin. And we, as born-again Christians, have a Biblical mandate from God to throw out a lifeline. While we may not have laughed at someone’s demise or failed to help someone in dire need, many times we refuse to show a person their greater need of salvation – deliverance from eternal damnation.
I think of the hymn writer and composer Edward S. Ufford, who wrote the timeless hymn Throw Out the Lifeline. He penned:
Throw out the lifeline across the dark wave;
There is a brother whom someone should save;
Somebody’s brother! Oh, who then will dare
To throw out the lifeline, his peril to share?
Throw out the lifeline!
Throw out the lifeline!
Someone is drifting away;
Throw out the lifeline!
Throw out the lifeline!
Someone is sinking today.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjXr9tQT6bU
My friends, there is a neighbor, a friend, a loved one, a relative, or an acquaintance who is in need of a lifeline that you can throw out. Do not pass them by. And if by chance you cannot think of anyone who needs the lifeline, join your local church for door-to-door visitation. You will find many there. So, throw out the lifeline. Someone is sinking today.
(Eze 33:2, 3, 4) “…if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.”
