Smiling At The Guards
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
There was a Highland Scott named Murdo McDonald; and during WW2 he was captured with another Scott and put in a prisoner of war camp. Both Scotts acted as chaplains and were on opposite sides of the fence, one with the British group and one with an American group. Once a day they were allowed to go to a big fence in the middle of the prisoner of war camp and talk with each other briefly. They had to do it in the presence of the guards who knew English and French as well as German. The two Scotsman discovered that these guards did not know Gaelic, the native tongue of Scotland, so they communicated with each other in Gaelic.
It turned out that one of the Americans had a short waved homemade radio that the Germans did not know about, so everyday Murdo would bring news about the war to the other Scott. One day he came to the gate and said that Germany had surrendered; and the war was over, but the guards did not know about it because communication had totally broken down. The other Scott went back to the British barracks, and the next thing you know, you could hear this tremendous cheering going on. For the next three days were still prisoners, but we walked around as though we were at a party. We did not complain about the food anymore, and we smiled and felt sorry for the guards and did not hate them anymore. Four days later the Germans had gotten the word, and the guards were gone and the doors were opened. But Murdo says, We were liberated by the news before we were liberated by the guards.
Every other religion is works based, and they say that maybe you will eventually be saved by what you do. Murdo McDonald gives us a perfect illustration of what our lives can be like to the degree that we understand that we are saved by mercy and by what Jesus has done in history, not by works and what we are doing now. If you are not able to walk around no matter what prison that you are in and smile at the guards, if you do not stop complaining about the food, you do not know how complete that your salvation is.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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