Mayday, Mayday

Sin puts us in a position of real and imminent danger.  One of the effects of original sin is an instinctive prejudice in favour of our own selfish desires.  – Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

  The term “mayday” arose in the 1920’s, when radio voice communication began to take precedence over Morse code. A senior radio officer in England was asked to come up with a word that would be easy to understand and comprehend, no matter what language was being spoken. When spoken...
three times in succession, mayday is the term that signals a life threatening emergency. Drop everything and come to the rescue, because there is real and imminent danger.

  When we think about sin, we may not see it in terms of real and imminent danger, but the truth is we are all separated from God by sin and are in need of saving. Every person born of human parents inherits a sin nature, we all think that our way is best and we can captain our own ship. And, for the most part, we are willing to do whatever we have to do to keep ourselves at the helm.

Pastor and author Tim Keller describes sin as, “a willingness to throw anybody else under the bus to justify yourself. Sin is justifying yourself at the expense of other people, to feel superior to other people.” The Christian doctrine of original sin is that we are hardwired for selfishness and cruelty. It’s not just a problem of bad examples or bad environments. We know this partly because we’ve seen the horror of it play out over and over throughout history. Our sin is a life threatening emergency. If we don’t send out a mayday call to Jesus, the danger is real and eternal.

READ and THINK… What does the Bible say?

Through these verses, Satan’s true nature, described in some Bible commentaries as shrewd and beguiling, is revealed. He tricks Eve by first introducing doubt and then offering temptation.

Question: What was the doubt? What was the temptation?

Genesis 3:2-5 (New International Version)

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”  ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Answer:

Temptation was planted and, after she performed the first act of disobedience, Eve did what so many of us do and involved a third party, Adam. They experienced a new feeling after their eyes were opened.

Question: What was the resulting feeling that both Adam and Eve experienced after eating the fruit from the tree?

Genesis 3:6-7 (New International Version)

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Answer:

LIVE… What will you do now?

What actions have you justified to keep yourself at the helm of your life? 

What have been the consequences of being your own captain?

Why do you think it is such a huge temptation for us to be “like God”?

Read Genesis 3:6 above. 

Have you ever felt like you were talking yourself into doing something you knew was wrong? 

How did you feel after you talked yourself into it?

Have you sent out a mayday call to Jesus? 

How would your life change if he were the captain instead of you?

PRAY… God, what do you want me to know and do?

Praise God for bringing you a rescuer from your sin. Ask Him to help you let go of the helm and trust Him to run your life. Thank Him for His sacrifice on the cross so that you may be saved from a life of temptation and selfishness.