Two young men entered a fishing tackle store in a small town in eastern Washington. They walked down aisles loaded with fishing poles. After a brief search, they found what they were looking for: shelves of brightly colored flies of every imaginable color and shape. They discussed the merits of different types and selected a good quantity of them. They didn’t want to run out in the long day of fly fishing that they had planned.
They had taken the flies to the counter to pay for them, when one of the young men, Mark, saw a bright orange PFD hanging from the wall. PFD stands for personal flotation device, and this one looked like an ordinary fishing vest. It wasn’t bulky like normal life preservers; in order to inflate the vest in an emergency, one had only to pull a little ripcord, and presto! The device would fill with air and expand.
Mark looked at the price tag. He said to his friend, “Travis, you think I should buy this? It isn’t cheap.”
Travis thought for a moment. He knew his friend didn’t know how to swim. He replied, “It might cost a whole lot, but what is your life worth?”
The terse reply made sense, and Mark purchased the PFD.
Do you know that when a person sees trouble ahead and takes steps to handle it before it arrives, this is called prudence? Mark was prudent when he purchased the PFD. God wants us all to be prudent when it comes to the salvation of our souls. He wants us to look ahead to the time when we must face Him and give an account for our sins. This will be a time of trouble indeed, because He must bring every sinner into judgment. Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27) reads, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” God cannot wink at sin and pretend it never happened. He cannot sweep it under a carpet and forget all about it. As God, He must judge it and see that it gets its just reward. What is the just reward for sin? Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) reads, “The wages of sin is death.”
Death always includes the idea of separation. Physical death is the separation of body and soul. Spiritual death is the separation of God and a soul forever. Souls who die with their sins unforgiven will be separated from God’s presence and sent to the place of darkness and continual sorrow called hell.
Are you ready to face God with your sins? Of course not! God wants you to exercise prudence before that time of judgment arrives. He wants you to take steps right now to avoid it. He wants you to repent of your sins and to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Here is prudence. Here is sound judgment. Here is the way to escape death and hell.
Travis encouraged Mark to purchase the PFD by asking, “What is your life worth?”
Let me encourage you to look to the Lord Jesus for salvation by asking, “What is your soul worth?” Is hanging on to sinful pleasures for a few more weary years worth an eternity of suffering in hell? Is keeping the good opinion of godless friends by never coming to Christ worth losing your soul in the blackness of hell? Even if you were to gain the whole world, would it be worth losing your soul?
Mark made the right decision when he bought the PFD. The day after the purchase, the two men were floating down the Yakima River on an inflatable raft, fly fishing as they drifted along with the current. They dropped anchor near their favorite fishing hole but the anchor wasn’t heavy enough to hold them in place. It dragged along the bottom for a while before it suddenly snagged on some object under the water.
The sudden jerk on the anchor line tilted the raft until it was nearly vertical, and Mark was thrown into the cold mountain water. The current moved him swiftly downstream. Then he disappeared beneath the surface. For thirty seconds he was under water.
In his panic he altogether forgot that he was wearing his new PFD. He was thinking he was going to drown, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to prevent it. Then he remembered his new vest. He pulled the ripcord, and it immediately inflated, taking him right to the surface. He coughed up the water he had swallowed, and then gulped in a deep, life-giving breath of air. He was alive!
To his surprise he found his fishing rod was still in his hand. He floated downstream for a short distance until another fisherman pulled him ashore.
Someday each one of us must pass out of this world. Those who have turned to God in repentance and faith will find incredible relief and joy as they are buoyed up on the dark waters of death and find heaven on the other side. Those who reject Christ in this life will sink beneath death’s dark water, never to surface to life and happiness again. Do the wise and prudent thing and accept Christ today! You will never regret it!