Articles
The Parachute
Two men are riding on an airplane. One man is handed a parachute and is told that the
parachute will improve his ride on the plane and will make it a more pleasurable and comfortable
trip. So the man puts the parachute on and after a few minutes decides that it’s not as
comfortable as he thought it was going to be, but he continues to give it a chance. After a little
while, more people begin to make fun of him and point and laugh. Mad, he stands and removes
the parachute and throws it to the floor.
The second man is handed a parachute and is told that in fifteen minutes, he will have to
jump out of the plane at 25,000 feet. The second man puts on the parachute and no matter what,
he refuses to take it off because he knows that there is coming a time when he will need it to save
his life. People point and laugh at him also, but he refuses to be persuaded because he knows
how much that parachute is worth to him.
The two men represent two separate people that are being taught the gospel. How we
approach others and take the Gospel to them has an effect on how they will respond. I read a
statistic that said 80 -90% of people who make a commitment to Christ end up falling away. In
other words if 10 people were to obey the Gospel, 8 or 9 of those people would end up
backsliding.
How do we take the Gospel to others? Do we tell them all the promises that Christ made
to those who follow Him and leave out the rest? Do we get involved in their life, push baptism
and repentance and never truly teach them the understanding and love of the Law of Christ? We
are all children of God, no one is higher or lower than another and we need to show love and
compassion to everyone in our personal evangelism. B. Johnson
