help wanted?

I ran up to the truck, laid down on my stomach, and inched forward until I could peek through what used to be the windshield. Broken glass and twisted metal was everywhere. But where was the driver? And how did the truck end up upside down in this ditch?

The answer to the second question came quickly: The smell of alcohol was very strong. Oh. Drunk driver.

The answer to the first question eventually came from another driver who had stopped to help. Crawling up beside me, he said the driver was somewhere in the back of the truck, out of sight. The man said he had talked extensively with him before I arrived, but he had refused to come out.

Not couldn’t come out, but wouldn’t come out.

Then, as if on cue, I heard the driver mumbling incoherently. While I still wondered whether he was hurt, my strong overall impression was he was mostly just too loaded to know where he was or what had happened.

After several minutes of trying to convince him to crawl towards us, we gave up. When the police finally arrived we told them what we knew, went back to our cars, and drove off.

Some people just can’t be helped. We can try all we want, but if the other person isn’t willing to play along, well, there’s not much we can do.

That’s true in life and it’s also true in the spiritual realm. For 35 years various people tried to warn me that I was on a collision course with hell, but I’d hold my arm up in front of my body and say, “Talk to the hand, ‘cause the face ain’t listenin’.”

I was a living example of the following verses:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”1

Prior to following Jesus, I was “dead in” my “transgressions and sins.” That is, I was spiritually-dead as a door nail, unable and unwilling to listen and believe in the truth.

During that time, unbeknownst to me, I “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” The “ruler,” of course, is Satan.2

That’s right, before I was a Christ-follower, I followed Satan. In fact, all unbelievers follow the devil. Hard to swallow? Yeah. But undeniable if you believe Scripture, and I do.

Not surprisingly, during my unbelieving years I gratified “the cravings of” my “sinful nature and” followed “its desires and thoughts.” Like all non-Christians, I was “by nature” an object “of wrath.”

In other words I was sinfully preoccupied with me, me, me. And because of that, I was an object of  God’s “wrath,” both in this life and the life to come.

But that was my choice. Just as the drunk driver refused to accept help in rescuing him from an over-turned truck, I was unwilling to accept Christ’s help when it came to my sins.

What about you? Are you following Christ or “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient”? Jesus wants to help, but you have to want His help. I urge you not to remain an object of His “wrath.” You'll be eternally sorry.

For those of you who are following Jesus, here’s something for you to think about: Even though your eternal sin problem is taken care of, the Lord wants to help you in other ways. For instance, He wants to change you into His image, but needs your cooperation.3

Do you want to be changed into His image? Are you going along with the plan? Do you want the Lord’s help?

Whoever we are and whatever our spiritual state, let’s not be like the drunk driver who refused much-needed assistance.

“As the Scripture says, “’Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’"4

1  Ephesians 2:1-3

2  John 8:43-47, 1 John 1:19, Job 1:7

3  2 Corinthians 3:18

4  Romans 10:11