Do we really want to be rescued?

My friend Andy posted his sermon topic yesterday on Facebook. He invited people to come to his church and hear a message that connected the classic TV show Gilligan's Island to the Gospel. 

Oddly,  I found myself this morning on the Tvland channel watching that old classic show. It seems they are having a marathon.   I don't know the direction that Andy went but as I watched I was instantly taken to a connection that I think speaks to the human condition,  the way you and I tend to act. 

The story line of the show is pretty simple, 7 people set out on a three hour trip in the SS Minnow and they end up ship wrecked an stranded on an island. The show is about the things that happen as they live on the island and try to find a way back home. The tension that is created is over whether they will be rescued or not. This is complicated because at times it seems they really don't want to be rescued. 

I think this is an interesting connection. God wants to save us.  He want to help us with our struggles and to overcome the things that strand us and seperate us from him.  We know that we are stuck for the most part. Yet, we have to want to be rescued. It seems at times,  if we are honest, we really don't want to be rescued. We are comfortable even in the life that we know is killing us,  because we know it. To surrender to God and return home is an unknown. To surrender to God and return home would mean we would have to change and we don't know the new life like we know the old one.   We want things to be different but we fear the change to come. We are such creatures of habit. Even in habits we know are bad. 

Home is where we belong. There is no place like home. We are never fully alive and living until we are living in relationship with God. So we must be rescued. We have to want to be rescued. 

When we cry out to be rescued our rescuer comes.  That is his promise. 

Is is time for you to get off your Island?

In Christ's love and mine,

Doug