Watchman Nee tells the story of his stay in China with 20 other Christians. The bathing accommodations were inadequate in the home where they were lodging, so they went for a daily dip in the river.
On one occasion, one of the men got a cramp in his leg and began sinking fast. Mr. Nee motioned to one of the other men, who was an excellent swimmer, about the drowning man. To his astonishment, however, the man did not move. He just stood there and watched the drowning man.
Mr. Nee was agitated, but the swimmer was calm and collected. Meanwhile, the voice of the drowning man grew fainter and more desperate. Mr. Nee hated the swimmer who just stood and watched on the shore when he could have jumped into the river and rescued the drowning man. As the drowning man went under for what looked like the last time, the swimmer was there in a moment, and both were soon safely on shore.
After the rescue, Mr. Nee chewed out the swimmer, accusing him of loving his life too much and being selfish. The response of the swimmer revealed, however, he knew what he was doing. He told Watchman that if he had gone too soon, the drowning man would have put a death grip on him and they would have both drowned in the river, and he was right. He told Mr. Nee that a drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself.
Such is the case with our salvation. When we stop trying to save ourselves, then the Lord can step in and save us when we yield to Him.
It was a cold winter’s night. The wind was howling and a bone-chilling rain was falling when the telephone rang at the home of a doctor. The man who was calling said that his wife needed urgent medical attention. The doctor was very understanding and said, “Sir, I’ll be glad to come and see what I can do for your wife, but my car is being repaired. Could you come and get me?”
There was indignation on the other end of the phone, and the man angrily shouted, “What, in this weather?” One of the characteristics of someone who is lost is that they are self-centered. Self can never cast out self, even in the regenerate man. Praise God, the death of Jesus, once and forever, is the death to self.
We were or are like this man. We want God to save us but in our way, not His. We don’t want to have to repent, turn from our sins and follow Jesus. We want to take Jesus into our hearts but our hearts have not been regenerated. We want to accept Jesus into our lives but our lives have not been born again by His Spirit. We are all drowning men, drowning in the sin of self-effort. Some of us have given up and let Jesus save us.
Most of us are still struggling, still fighting to save our lives, and we are doomed to fail in the attempt. That’s the paradox of Matthew 10:39: “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”
Find your life by losing it. Give your life to Jesus—all of it. Keep nothing for yourself and you will find life—life that is in Christ, for Christ and because of Christ.
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