Lifesaving Training
Years ago, growing up in Cartersville, Georgia, I thought that I would enjoy being a lifeguard during the summer. Of course to become a lifeguard, you had to have lifesaving training. So I signed up and attended a several week training course on how to save lives. (It's interesting to me now to look back at that time and think about my desire to save people from drowning.) My desire has not changed much today, I just have a different type of life preserver to toss out these days. Today I'm going to toss you one of my new life preservers. A Good Word.
One of the greatest influences in our lives today is the friends that we choose to hang around. This is true no matter what age you are. Do you surround yourself with people that will help you fufill your purpose? Friends that build you up instead of tearing you down? Do your friends have a purpose as well? If your answer is no to any of these, perhaps you need to evaluate the personal relationships that you have.
Several years ago there was a campaign for young students to stay in shape. I believe it was part of a Presidential physical fitness program in our schools. Each year I would strive to win the patch that would come with meeting all of the physical fitness criteria. I believe the slogan for the campaign was "Be a David." You see, King David of the Bible was a champion! Champions hang out with champions. In the Bible mighty men hung out with David.
In my NIV Bible, there are caption titles for each chapter. These titles give you an idea of what the chapter, or group of verses, is all about. If you turn to
1 Chronicles 11:10 the title before the verses is, "David's Mighty Men." This is a neat list to read. In verse 10-11 the bible says, "These were the chiefs of David's mighty men- they, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the Lord had promised- this is a list of David's mighty men." I will cover a few of these "mighty men" and what the Bible says about them with you...
Verse 11 goes on to say, "Jashobeam, a Hacmonite, was chief of the officers; he raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter." I'd say that he was pretty mighty! Another "mighty man" is described in verse 22, "Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valient fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab's best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion." It's funny to me that the Bible says "it was a snowy day." Oh yeah, killing a lion on a snowy day, now that would be tough... The Bible goes on to tell about Benaiah in verse 23, "And he struck down an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall. Although the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver's rod in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear." I would say that qualifies as mighty in my book as well. (Goliath had a spear "like a weavers rod" as well. I would encourage you to read this whole chapter about David's mighty men, champions!
God considers you a champion as well if you have a personal relationship with Christ. He wants you to hang out with other champions. Do you know that hanging out with a champion will bring out the champion in you? The opposite is true as well...I will cover that in a moment.
You may think to yourself, "Robby, I'm no champion. Matter of fact, I'm a little distressed, I'm in debt, and I'm just pretty discontented with the way things are." Well, I have A Good Word for you! Do you know where David's mighty men came from? Do you think that they "just happened" to become mighty one day? No! They hung out with a champion, and then became champions.
Turn in your Bible to 1 Samuel 21: 1-2. The Bible tells us where these "Mighty Men" came from, "David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Audullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him." Wow! It sounds like these guys were not always champions, "mighty men." How did they become that way? They hung out with a champion! This is what you should be doing as well.
Hanging out with people that are not champions will drag you down to their level. They may even drown you! You say, "But Robby, I'm strong in my faith. I want to save them. I want to lift them up to my level, above the water." Well, I say beware! I am proud of the fact that you want to save them. The "them" could be your boyfriend or girlfriend. The "them" could be your friends, your co-workers, or people you just hang out with often. Don't jump in on your own to bring them up to your level. They may just pull you under to their level. (Drown you.)
Do you know what the very first lesson that they teach in lifesaving about how to save someone that's drowning? I asked this question in my Sunday school class that I teach. I got a lot of good answers. It took a while to get the correct answer, however. Some of the answers were, "You swim up close to them and grab their legs from under.the water." Well, they do teach that technique later, but the correct answer is: You throw them a life preserver. YOU DON'T JUMP IN!
Why? They may pull you down and drown you. I actually saw this happen in my lifesaving class. The instructor herself almost drowned with about 15 lifeguard students sitting on the edge of the pool watching from about 10 feet. She had asked one of the weaker students (a poor swimmer) to fake drowning and try to fight her off. She wanted to demonstrate how a victim will grab to you to try to pull you down and himself up. We were all watching and laughing at the fighting going on in the deep end of the pool. Suddenly our instructor came up out of the water and SCREAMED help! The poor swimming student was actually drowning our instructor right in front of us. Both had become tired in the play fight and really began to panic. We saved both of them. But I really learned a great lesson by that moment. DON'T JUMP IN! Throw a life preserver or lifeline.
Invite your lost friends to church or Sunday school. Don't try to save them on your own. They may drag you down to their depth. Throw them a life-saver. A Life Savior.
Robby
