JUMPING
OFF CHRIST

Topics: Apostasy; Invitation; Rest; Safety

References: Matthew 11:28–30; 1 Corinthians 15:2; Hebrews 12:25

An extreme sports fanatic scaled the 120-foot Christ the Redeemer statue on Brazil’s Corcovado mountain and jumped from its outstretched arms.

For the first ever such leap, Felix Baumgartner, thirty, an Austrian, smuggled his parachute on board the little train that takes dozens of tourists up the two-thousand-foot mountain to visit the statue. He scaled the gray stone figure, climbed onto one of its fingers, and jumped. Baumgartner’s parachute worked, and he was not injured.

How many people approach life like this daredevil? Rather than turning to the one who invites all who are weary to come to him and find rest, many prefer to jump from the safety of his hands. Unlike this thrill seeker, theirs will be a far different end, for there are no spiritual parachutes for those who spurn Christ.

—Alan Wilson, “Spurning Christ,” PreachingToday.com