Deep and WideSample

We’re All in the Same Boat

Sports fan? Who’s your team? Who’s your rival? How deep does that rivalry run?

A few years ago, a family friend was on the equipment staff for the Michigan State University Spartans football team. He gave my parents some tickets for a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Spartans and the Buckeyes do not like each other. When my parents, MSU fans, found themselves in a sea of Buckeye fans, they assumed it would be a fine and friendly fan interaction.

It wasn’t.

My mother, a 60-something grandmother at the time, was verbally accosted for simply wearing an MSU sweatshirt. Perhaps the most non-threatening person in the stadium became the target of vitriol and hatred (maybe that’s why she was targeted—a cowardly action).

There have been plenty of rivalries over the existence of humanity. It started with Cain and Abel and continues right through now. Us and them; our group and their group. The “in” and “out” divide even finds its way into the pews of local churches.

Paul had to end a rivalry in the church in Rome. He had to remind them that it didn’t matter what their genetics or nationality said.

All humanity was (is!) in the same “guilty-of-sin-in-desperate-need-of-salvation” boat. There was no reason for anyone to look down on anyone else or to consider themselves better.

Our HMS Sinful boat holds everyone, and we all need to jump ship to the HMS Redeemed.

The power of God for salvation (see yesterday’s devotional) was and is available to all, everyone, full stop. No qualifications, no nuance, no fast talk at the end of the commercial.

It is available to all because everyone needs it and needs it the same as everyone else.

It’s easy to categorize people, use self-righteous judgment, draw lines around different groups, or make litmus tests for people who do or don’t belong. Then, it becomes us vs. them, and we circle the wagons for our own protection.

But when we do that, the people who need to get in—who need the safety and warmth of our campfires—are excluded.

Paul reminds us that we were once outside the circle, too. But God’s power found us on our sinking ship and rescued us.

Now, we offer His rescue to others.

Are you inviting people in or keeping them out?

Prayer: Father in Heaven, thank You for extending Your salvation to me. Help me remember that everyone needs Your salvation, and You offer it to everyone. Let me be the one who throws a lifeline to anyone in need without picking and choosing. Forgive me for ever creating lines of who is welcome and who is not. Amen.

Reflection: Ask God to help you see if you have any unhealthy boundaries between yourself and others. Ask Him to help you tear them down.