A little boy of four years named Jimmy was playing with some of his young friends, and getting tired of being by their own homes, they wandered off and found their way to the towing path of the canal. All at once little Jimmy fell in! His playmates were too small to pull him out, and in their fright ran back home calling out,
“Jimmy’s in the canal!”
It so happened that a man was passing along on business who knew the district very well. So when he heard the children crying out, he ran straight to that part of the canal where poor little Jimmy was struggling for life. There to his surprise he saw that the child had not sunk under the water, but was paddling with his hands and feet, and floating upright just like an empty bottle. His efforts kept his head and mouth out of the water, so that he was not drowning. But the more he paddled, the further he was drifting out of reach into the deep part of the canal.
How it reminds us of the poor sinner struggling to save himself from sins and getting worse and further from God every day. He dreads the day when our Lord will return, for he feels that he will be left behind. So he goes on sadder and sadder each day. Like jimmy, he needs a Saviour.
The man did not linger on the canal bank, but stepped right into the water, which was not deep enough to cover hint, and reached out his big, strong hand to Jimmy. The child grasped it with his own hands, and his paddling and struggling ceased in a moment.
There was no need for his own efforts, for a saviour, stronger than he was, had come just where he was in the water in order to lift him out and put him safely on the bank.
In the same way our Lord came just where the poor sinners were. He came to be a Man and die for them. How happy, when the sinner by faith sees the Saviour close by with His hand outstretched to save. He takes the strong hand and is lifted from death to life, from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy.
The man willingly went into the water to rescue the child, but our Lord went far deeper, and had to suffer more, much more, for He had to die for us on the cross.
ML 01/29/1939