From across the pool I saw a man, probably in his late 50s, pushing a wheel chair. In it was his adult son, a man in his 30s who appeared to have a severe case of cerebral palsy. I didn’t think much of it as I returned to playing with my kids in the pool. Little did I know what I was about to witness.
The father picked up his adult son from the wheel chair, carried him across the deck of the pool and down the steps into the pool. I paused from playing with my kids as I became captivated by this scene. The father waded through the shallow section into deeper water where he gently braced his son so he could float. Then they peacefully journeyed around the pool.
And the son loved it! You should have seen the look on his face as he looked up at the big blue sky, kept afloat by the aid of his loving father. This man, stricken with a terrible disorder, just basked in the sun on a warm, Kansas summer day. And judging by their tans they do this often, father carrying son into the pool and son, glad to escape the confines of his wheel chair, loving every minute of it.
I told my wife that if this is not a metaphor of the gospel then I don’t know what is. The gospel or good news of Christianity is that God looked down on the tragic state of his children due to sin and said this is going to change. So he sent Jesus from heaven on a mission to redeem. Jesus came to make sin that was as red as crimson as white as snow. Paul tells us about Christ’s mission in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
It is as impossible for a person to redeem himself as it is for that son with cerebral palsy to swim by himself. We might desire to save ourselves, but there is nothing in our own power we can do to overcome our sin. But like the loving father enabling his son to swim, God in his grace picks us up and carries us to the Promised Land. Enjoy the swim.
TJ Rose is a Masters Student at Whitefield Seminary.
And the son loved it! You should have seen the look on his face as he looked up at the big blue sky, kept afloat by the aid of his loving father. This man, stricken with a terrible disorder, just basked in the sun on a warm, Kansas summer day. And judging by their tans they do this often, father carrying son into the pool and son, glad to escape the confines of his wheel chair, loving every minute of it.
I told my wife that if this is not a metaphor of the gospel then I don’t know what is. The gospel or good news of Christianity is that God looked down on the tragic state of his children due to sin and said this is going to change. So he sent Jesus from heaven on a mission to redeem. Jesus came to make sin that was as red as crimson as white as snow. Paul tells us about Christ’s mission in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
It is as impossible for a person to redeem himself as it is for that son with cerebral palsy to swim by himself. We might desire to save ourselves, but there is nothing in our own power we can do to overcome our sin. But like the loving father enabling his son to swim, God in his grace picks us up and carries us to the Promised Land. Enjoy the swim.
TJ Rose is a Masters Student at Whitefield Seminary.
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