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Too Great A Chasm
Children
and even some young adults may not know or remember
him, but in the 1970s few people held the American
public's imagination like Evel Knievel.
The motorcycle daredevil saw his name and
patriotic color scheme stamped on everything from
lunchboxes to albums to movies to an Evel Knievel
action figure that briefly outsold Barbie and G.I.
Joe. His jump attempts over cars, buses, fountains,
shark tanks and, most memorably, the
Snake River
Canyon
in
Idaho
, drew millions of viewers to Knievel television
specials and sold out venues like the Houston
Astrodome and
London
's Wembley Stadium.
Consider,
for a moment, his jump attempt at
Snake River
Canyon
in
Idaho
…
On
September 8, 1974, after two unsuccessful unmanned
test flights, Evel decided to keep his word to his
fans and risked his life in an attempt to clear a
1,718-foot chasm of the
Snake River
Canyon
. In place of his signature Harley Davidson, Evel
attempted this jump in a specially constructed
rocket-powered "Skycycle."
Seconds after his sky cycle cleared the edge of
the canyon, his parachute ejected prematurely.
As fans, family, crew, and a live television
audience watched Evel descend 600 feet into the
canyon, it appeared he was heading directly for the
river. Landing
in the river would have meant certain death.
Fortunately, Evel and the sky cycle were saved
because they landed on the rocks on the far edge of
the river. Due at least in part to malfunctions in his
equipment, the chasm at
Snake River
Canyon
proved to be too great for Evel to cross.
This chasm and Evel’s attempt to clear it reminds
us of an even GREATER chasm - one which separates us
from God!
God
is a HOLY God - "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD
Almighty” (Isaiah 6:3).
Because of His
holiness, God is totally “set apart” from sin.
His eyes are too pure to look upon evil
(Habakkuk 1:13).
Man,
on the other hand, is a SINFUL being -
Isaiah warned others about the effects of SIN:
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That
it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot
hear. But
your iniquities have SEPARATED you from your God; And
your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He
will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2).
The
chasm between sinful man and a holy God is TOO GREAT
for man to cross by his own
merits!
Morality isn’t sufficient!
Good works won’t bridge the gap!
Only
the CROSS of Jesus can span this great
chasm between God and man caused by SIN.
Jesus died on the cross so that you and I
might be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to
a holy God. Those
who place their trust
in God (Hebrews 11:6), repent
of sin (2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sin
(Acts 2:38), and live faithfully to Him (1 John 1:7),
are cleansed of their sins and reconciled to God
because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice.
Jesus
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father
except through Me" (John 14:6).
We CROSS by way of the CROSS
!
ONLY
through your submission to Jesus will you ever be able
to reach God who beckons to us from the other side!
Won't you CROSS over today?
God bless you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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