Rescue Mission

“After coming down with them, He stood on a level place with a large crowd of His disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon…the whole crowd was trying to touch Him, because the power was coming out from Him and healing them all” (Luke 6:17-9).

In 1985, a man named Jerome Moody died in a swimming pool surrounded by 100 lifeguards. These lifeguards had gotten together to celebrate the fact that during that year, there were no fatalities in all the municipal swimming pools in New Orleans. After the celebration, while everyone was cleaning up, they found Jerome Moody in the swimming pool dead.

How does a man drown surrounded by 100 lifeguards? Because they weren’t on their watch. They let their guard down.

We can spend time with the Father, and we can grow together with our spiritual family, but if we don’t dive after those who are drowning spiritually, we miss our mission.

Jesus begins on the mountain top seeking His Father privately, then He meets His brothers—His disciples—midway down the mountain, and then He goes out into a level place where people are waiting to be healed. Up, in, out. This is His pattern—the blueprint for us to imitate. Up, in, out.

We have a message to deliver straight from the heart of God to a world that’s perishing in the weight of sin and shame. God’s given us the rescue equipment—He’s given us the lifeboat to save those who are drowning, but so often we fail to go on the rescue mission. We’ve spent time with God and with family. We’ve grown deep roots in the Lord, and we’ve cultivated great friendships with people we can trust and count on, but there are people right next to us drowning, and we don’t notice.

We don’t notice because we aren’t looking for them. We aren’t scanning the surface of the water, watching for those in need. Our guard is down.

Jesus didn’t stay on the mountain, He came down. He filled up, prepared His heart, and came down to rescue people. We need to do the same. My prayer is that we look up to the Father, look into our family, and go out to bring others to safety.