"Meow—"
The plaintive little wail trailed off into the air. With a rush and a roar cars and trucks raced by in an endless stream, and the bedraggled little bundle of fur huddled by the railing of the bridge attracted no attention. No one had time to stop; no one cared to stop; no one dared to stop.
"Meow!"
But the traffic thundered on.
Then came Kathy. Driving alone across the bridge, she caught a glimpse of the little cat. Out loud she exclaimed, "Was that a cat?" A cat where no cat should be, a cat in deadly danger—Kathy's heart went out to it.
She could not turn in the stream of traffic (it was an interstate highway bridge, six miles long) so she drove on to the end of the bridge. Then she turned around and drove to the other end, turned again and drove back to the section where she had seen the cat.
Turning on her blinking emergency lights and slowing down, her eyes searched the area anxiously. There it was! And yes, it was a cat—a live cat! For a few minutes there was little traffic, and—"I stopped, jumped out, ran around and scooped it up."
Back into the car she ran with the cat, crossed that long bridge once more, and drove off to the animal hospital. Kitty was saved!
Soon skilful hands were examining her injuries, treatment was begun and in a short time a warm, well-fed and comfortable little cat was purring in Kathy's arms.
Once there was a man who, like Kitty, was left by the roadside "half dead." Traffic passed him by; the travelers on the road didn't want to get involved until a "certain Samaritan" came and "when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds... and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."
Even so Kathy, when she saw Kitty, went back to where she was and picked her up, ("It was a brave thing she did," said the veterinarian) and took poor Kitty to where she could be cared for. More than that, she promised to be responsible for all the bills for Kitty's care at the hospital.
The Samaritan also paid for the care of the man he had rescued, and then said: "Take care of him: and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." (The whole story is in Luke 10:30-35.)
And what has all this to do with us? Like Kitty, we are lost and helpless; like the man by the roadside, "half dead," (dead toward God but alive in the world) we need a rescuer—a savior. There is a rescuer for us—"a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." He came down to where we were, leaving His Father's house and all the glory that was His to die on a shameful cross, for you and for me. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isa. 53:5.
Yes, He did all that—He suffered that we might be healed. We were not like Kitty; we were sinners. That is why the Lord Jesus had to give His life to save us, why "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Heb. 9:28. He died to save us; He gave His life on the cross to put away our sins.
What is left for us to do? Only this: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31. That isn't too much to ask of us, is it? It is just the pure grace of God, all the way through!
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Eph. 2:8.