I too am rescued

As I have watched men, women and children being rescued in Mediterranean waters from sinking boats or those being accepted into countries with gifts and provisions, it's easy to remain distant from those images. It's easy to think that I've never been in such abject need; I have never been brought so low. It's easy to see these refugees as subjects of pity and perhaps even shame. It's easy to feel that they are not like you and I.

But this is not true.

I have as much need for rescue as these refugees. I am in as a pitiful and low estate as they. For I too, despite my arrogance and desire to believe otherwise, am helpless and powerless.

Due to my sinfulness, my desire to rebel against God and my outright disobedience, I am subject to death's curse. I am a natural enemy of God. I go against even the simplest of His commands; I fail to love Him as I should. As a result, I am cut off from God's life-giving power and love. Romans 7:24 says:

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 

I am in dire need of saving. I need to be rescued, but not from war-torn countries and oppressive regimes. Instead I need saving from sin and from myself. But who is going to rescue me? It is the very God that I have rebelled against! The very next verse of Romans states:
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
God has delivered me. I am saved.

Although I will probably never experience the sense of fear, upheaval, uncertainty and dread that these refugees feel, I have no right to look down upon them or distance myself from them. Instead, I should acknowledge that I have been rescued and freed from the burden and prison of sin. Who am I to deny freedom and rescue to those seeking refuge? Who am I to forget them?

My whole being will exclaim,
 “Who is like you, Lord?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
 the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

Psalm 35:10