A Lesson from the Arabs

“Some years ago, several Arab chieftains accompanied that famous First World
War character, Lawrence of Arabia, to the Paris Peace Conference. The Arabs
saw many wonderful things in the great city, but the most amazing sight to them
was the running water in their hotel rooms. It seemed to them impossible that by
simply turning a faucet they could have an almost inexhaustible flow of water
without effort or expense.
They had been accustomed all their lives to consider water as a scarce commodity.
They know its great value and, from experience, the difficulty of obtaining it.
At the end of the conference and as the delegates were preparing to depart,
Lawrence saw his chieftains trying to remove the faucets from the walls of their
rooms so they could fix them to walls in their own rooms at home and continue to
have an exhaustless water supply without effort in their barren deserts!
It required considerable time and patience to explain that the faucets alone were
utterly valueless”.
We smile at the simple-mindedness of the Arab chiefs, but we have all been guilty
of such actions. We take an example from an account in the lives of the children
of Israel.
“Israel went out against the Philistines to battle. Israel was smitten before the
Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about 4,000 men. And when
the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Let us fetch the
Ark of the Covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that it may save us.
And when the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel
shouted with a great shout. And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten,
and there was a great slaughter; for there fell of Israel 30,000 footmen”
(1Samuel 4:1-3, 5, 10).
The Arabs trusted in the detached faucets for water, and the Israelites trusted in the
visible Ark of the Covenant, detached from God Who is the true Source of supply.
Some trust in their good upbringing as a reason why God’s favour should be theirs.

Others trust in good deeds and almsgiving as a merit to bring God’s
blessing to them. Some trust in long prayers and religious observances. Others
trust that fasting will recommend them to God. ‘Useless, if detached’.
“All our righteousness are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
Reading of Psalm for prayer will disappoint you like the detached faucets would
have disappointed the Arabs. ‘Useless, if detached’.
Do you still trust in good morals to recommend you to God? Do you hope to be
saved because you try to ‘Obey the Ten Commandments, love your neighbour as
yourself, do good to anyone you see and have a clear conscience towards
everybody’? Do you say that these are things that will qualify one for heaven?
Ask yourself, have you done all these today? Of course, no. All these are
incapable of saving you unless the source is God, the Giver of every good and
perfect gift through Jesus Christ.
False hopes are costly for they shall cause eternal regret and cause you to wail in
anguish of deepest regrets in eternity. Baptism, whether of the infant or of the
adult, whether sprinkling or immersion – cannot save you. Don’t be satisfied with
the useless detached faucets. Be sure you have the real thing – the passport to
heaven: heart cleansing. God gives it through Jesus Christ. You may trust in
being ‘baptized in the Holy Spirit’, dreaming and seeing visions, prophesying,
speaking in tongues and interpreting while you are still SINNING – ‘useless if
detached’; How can that be, do you say? Well, God does not baptize dogs
(sinners) in the Holy Spirit. He only says if His children ask for the Holy Ghost,
He’ll fill them. It’s only for children – and who is a child? “Whosoever is born of
God does not commit sin for the seed of God remains in him and he cannot sin”
(1John 3:9).
Going to consult prophets and attending revival services every day is not what
God requires of you. ‘Useless if detached’.
Nothing less than God can save.
Do not have faith in anything less than God. “Neither is there salvation in any
other for there is none other name (and no other thing) under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Only Jesus can save.

Jesus died that you may live. His death is the only remedy for your sins. Pray to
God with faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and you will be saved from the guilt
of sin, from the love of sin, from the power of sin and from the consequence of sin.
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Ro 10:13).
“Now why tarriest thou? Wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord”
(Acts 22:16).
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2
Corinthians 6:2).

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