Luke 2:11

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” ESV Luke 2:11

Visits to the Tennessee River were a regular event during my early childhood. It flows within a mile of my father’s childhood home, so it was a natural location for family outings and social gatherings.

The Natchez Trace Parkway now crosses the majestic Tennessee where historical markers indicate that Chief Colbert (a Chickasaw Indian chief) operated a ferry which provided safe passage across the river. Just below that sight, is Colbert park; the public- use area that we frequented.

In addition to picnicking and enjoying the view, we kids (family and friends) would regularly slip down the steep embankment and go for a swim in the Tennessee. Most always under the watchful eyes of our mothers, we never gave much thought to danger or to not being able to see the bottom and took some delight in bringing up mud, muscle shells, rocks and such from the murky depths.

One day is particularly memorable. My friend and I were on a large inflatable raft, and had floated just far enough into the river that we couldn’t touch the bottom. We were “in over our heads” so to speak; but safe and secure on our raft. I don’t remember exactly what happened next, but my friend left the raft, bobbed a couple of times in the murky water to the horror of his mother and flailed frantically each time he came up.

Before I recognized the danger of the situation, a man jumped from a nearby boat that was moored on the bank, scooped my friend out of the water and delivered him into his mother’s arms safe and secure. That murky water could have been a death trap for my friend that day, had it not been for the savior nearby.

When Luke announces the birth of Christ, he calls Him a Savior. I think sometimes that we in the Bible belt have become indifferent to the term savior. Perhaps we have heard it so many times that we take it for granted. Safe and secure in our lives, we comfortably float along in this world oblivious to ever present spiritual danger that lurks all around us and the need for a Savior. Some may even ask: Christ is a Savior from what?

The Bible tells us the answer. You see, God and sin do not mix and one day God will set an eternal chasm between them. Yet our world has been clouded and tainted by sin. Not only has the world been tainted by sin, but each and every person as well.

It is Christ alone who provides safe passage from this world and its dangers. It is Christ who jumped from heaven into our murky world and was born as Savior to scoop all who trust in Him from this murky death trap, cleanse them, and eternally deliver them into the arms of God the Father. Ask God to reveal the danger of sin to you and grant you the strength and faith to call on Christ as Savior.

-Ken Askew