Two drunken sailors wished to cross an arm of the sea in Scotland one night. The inlet was not wide, and usually it was crossed in twenty minutes. The two sailors were anxious to get over as quickly as possible and, getting in their boat, they set out with all their might to row over in less time than would be usually taken.
The crossing had never seemed so long! They redoubled their efforts, but instead of striking the other shore they were still out in open water. There was no current in the inlet, but the sailors imagined that the tide was against them and again rowed with all their might. Still they did not reach the other shore.
"Well," they declared, "either the boat is bewitched, or we are!"
They continued rowing, the hours passed, day began to break, and the increasing light revealed to the two exhausted but now sober sailors the cause of their trouble.
"Hello, mate," cried one of them, looking over the side of the boat, "we have not raised anchor!"
It was true, and now they saw why their night's work had been so utterly useless.
The drunken stupidity of the two sailors may raise a smile, but how many souls are in the same condition. Many a poor sinner struggles to believe—strange as that may seem—but all their efforts have been in vain and peace of heart is as far away as ever. The unhappy soul, pressed to despair, places the blame upon the devil, upon a fatal chance, upon anything at all, but the true cause which is not suspected.
The heart clings to hopes founded on its own righteousness which it does not wish to give up; it refuses to cast itself with childlike confidence into the arms of Jesus.
And you—where are you? Have you raised anchor yet? Have you cut loose from yourself? If not, all your efforts are useless. Raise then your anchor, cast aside your confidence in everything that keeps you here; cast yourself just as you are into the arms of Jesus, and you will prove for yourself the reality of the Word which says, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."