Drowning

Cold hands are choking me as I struggle to breathe. I'm kicking and panting, flaring my arms, whatever I can do to stay afloat. The water from the ocean that once use to sting my eyes have been clouded by fearful tears of my own. My body is tense from this new revelation. I woke up at 4AM. I couldn't sleep anymore. Turned on the lights, sat up, and read. It was then that God revealed to me where I was, a deep ocean of sin all around me. Sharks can't be that dangerous. Seaweed tickles but can't trap. Only a few feet more and then the soft sand at the bottom. Lies! Lies! Lies! And so with revelation came belief. I am terified! "Lord, save me!" Just moments before, content in my (I thought) beautiful aquarium, I am thrashing around, eager to be taken out. Pulled down by the seaweed. Scoffed at by the sharks, waiting for my demise. Down, down, down... Wait. A hand. No, a strong arm. Stronger than I've ever known. Gentle, too. The water slowly falls away from my face, ocean and tears. He alone resuscitates me.

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." Romans 5:6-11

No analogy is perfect. It is not sin that kills, but the wrath of God because of sin. God must punish sin. He is perfectly just and perfectly holy. That's why it's so amazing. The Judge gives up His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, so that He might also be the Justifier. And so we are saved from God's wrath by God's Sacrifice for God's glory.