The Value of One Individual Person
By Cornelius R. Stam
Just imagine! It had been three weeks since a big Air Force plane had disappeared over the Pacific with a crew of eight and a Navy enlisted man.
Now, in that general vicinity, the pilot of an Air Force cargo plane reported sighting a raft with one man standing up in it, waving for help.
Almost immediately the Air Force dispatched sixteen planes to the area and called upon all ships nearby to help, in the hope of finding this one man.
Again and again we have witnessed the almost unlimited effort and expense that men will go to to rescue even one of their fellowmen from death. This is as it should be, for it is only in this life that we can prepare for eternity and it is important that each of us should have the greatest possible opportunity to prepare, in case through carelessness we may have put this important matter off.
It was with eternity in mind that the Lord Jesus Christ paid the greatest possible price to save men from judgment to come, and what the Bible calls “the second death.”
“Christ also hath once suffered for sins,” says I Peter 3:18, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Titus 2:14 says that “He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” I Peter 2:24 declares that He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” and in Galatians 2:20 St. Paul exclaims: “He loved me and gave Himself for me.”
After three weeks alone on the ocean, the man referred to above was keenly conscious of his need. He stood up and waved frantically, in the hope that someone on the plane above might see him and bring help. Some people, adrift in this world of sin and trouble, go on for many, many years before they become aware of their need — or at least, before they will acknowledge it. But not until we do acknowledge our sin and our need, can we expect help or salvation. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (I Timothy 1:15). Good people do not need a Savior, but who is really good? Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and our consciences bear witness. But let us rejoice and trust Him for salvation.
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3,4).
Author