by Ken Pew
COLUMBUS, OH –-(Ammoland.com)- While looking over tree stand safety for a hunter education class, the thought occurred to me that I have a “living” safety harness. Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be nailed to a tree, died, went into Hell and rose to life again. He defeated death and now and ever more is my protection.
I know from personal experience that falling from your tree stand is a painful experience. It can happen in an instant. It happens when we stop paying attention or are distracted by something. Or in some cases, I have been told we can even fall asleep (not that this has ever happened to me)! We fall from the stand in much the same way that we fall into sin.
We fall because we’ve let our guard down, stopped paying attention, and made a misstep.
When we fall from a tree stand the safety harness catches us after a short distance; keeping us from hitting the ground. Without a harness we would fall and suffer serious injury or death. This is not without some pain or discomfort.
The spiritual consequences of sin are similar. Failing to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ is like ignoring the importance of our safety harness. Without Jesus our fall into sin can lead to both physical and spiritual death. With Him we can still fall, but He is there to catch us. He allows us to experience the pain and discomfort caused by our sin, but it no longer leads to our spiritual death. Instead, we can stop and ask Him to forgive us for our sin.
All we must do is welcome Jesus Christ into our hearts and he will accompany us on our journey through life. We must remember to be in contact with Him through prayer. When we accept Christ as our safety harness, He can restrain us when our attention wonders, and catch us when we misstep and fall into temptation and sin. Even though it may still be painful and uncomfortable, Christ will be there to keep us from certain death.
Being held from the harm of sin, we are given the opportunity to turn away from the sin (repent). With the help of our harness we are able to climb back into our stand. Thanks to Jesus we may remain in communion with God and His grand creation!
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone . Psalm 91:1 – 2, 10 – 12 (NKJV)
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. John 10:28 – 29 (NKJV)
About Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry:
Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH) is an outreach ministry of the people of God called upon to feed venison to the hungry among us nationwide. Visit FHFH.org