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By Ken Dornhecker
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History gives us a powerful lesson in human nature. On the night that the Titanic sank
beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, suddenly 1600 people were thrashing about in
28 degree water. And of course they were screaming and crying out for help and looking
for any means of salvation.
But, sadly, it later emerged from eyewitness accounts that of the 18 half-empty lifeboats
that got away from the Titanic safely, a similar conversation took place. In each of those
life-boats drifting nearby, they heard the sound of their desperate fellow passengers.
Someone would hesitantly propose, “We’ve got to go back and help!”
But an even more forceful refusal would come from their fellow passengers. They said,
“No! If we go back, they’ll pull us under!”
But, thankfully, one life-boat was different.
Life-boat number 14, commanded by
Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe. He
heard those desperate cries and it
meant only one thing to him—we’re
going back to help our fellow passengers!
He put the strongest men in his boat on
the oars, and they set off in the chilly
night air, rowing in the direction of
individual, frantic cries.
Unfortunately, progress was very slow in the expanse of the dark ocean that night. But in
one hour of hard, heart-breaking work they managed to pluck a handful of precious souls
from the freezing, black water and certain death.
It was said that night, by more than one person, that they could hear the men rowing to
rescue people saying in rhythm with their rowing, “Save – one – life! Save – one – life!
Save – one – life!”
Oh, how I wish that were the cry of the modern church. But sadly, too many of us fit into
the category of those in the first 17 life-boats. We cling to the safety of our life-boat. We’
re in our comfort zone. We’re too fearful to go out into lost humanity where our friends
and neighbors and co-workers are drowning in an ocean of sin, to tell them about the
salvation of Jesus and His cross. We somehow just can’t get the courage to row back into
all that and help people into the kingdom of God’s dear Son!
I think of the exhortation of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse seven. Paul
said that God did not give us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power and of love and of a
sound mind. But we rarely connect it to verse eight, its correct context: Therefore, do not
be ashamed to testify about our Lord.
Paul was saying, God’s not the one who is making us fearful and timid when it comes to
testifying about the salvation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! That’s the enemy.
The Captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men.” I encourage you today in your walk with Jesus, follow Him. As you do, He
will make you a fisher of men. He will give you the courage. He will give you the capacity to
reach over the side and pull other people up into the life-boat.
Jesus Christ is calling us to be fishers of men, to pluck precious souls out of the ocean of
sin and death. That’s our job. That’s what Jesus Christ desires for us to do.
I encourage you to be like Fifth Officer Lowe, to volunteer and row in the direction of
hurting humanity and tell them about Jesus Christ, His cross, and His salvation. Invite
them to your church and more specifically, invite them into the safety of the life-boat of
Jesus Christ.
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Jesus called out to them,
“Come, follow me, and I will
show you how to fish for
people!” Matthew 4:19 NLT
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