Faith and the Great Blondin
Faith
&
The
Great Blondin
When someone
says that they believe in Jesus, it can mean so many different things. It is important to know exactly what it means
to have “saving” faith in Jesus and to be sure that your name is written in the
Lamb’s Book of Life. One way to
illustrate “saving” faith is by the request of a famous tight rope walker whose
name was “The Great Blondin”.
As a
Christian, I have gone witnessing door to door a number of times. When I first started talking to people about
Jesus and becoming a Christian, there were a lot of people that would say “Oh,
yea, I believe in Jesus.” When they said
this, there was something inside that made me feel that even though they were
saying the right words, that they may not be saved. I think that some people think that to
believe in Jesus is more of an intellectual statement. They are saying that they are aware of the
facts and events that surround the life of Jesus and His death. This is like a person saying “Yea, I believe
that chair can hold me.” They are aware
of the design of details of the chair and feel comfortable that it can hold
their weight, even if they were to never sit in it! Other people believe in Jesus like some
people believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. These people blindly say that they believe in
Him but are not really sure if all that He said was true, or all that He
promised can be trusted. In any case, if
He does exist, He isn’t really seriously a part of their life.
Years ago I bought a version of the Bible called “The Amplified
Bible”. This version is a much lengthier
version and is designed to try more fully communicate the Greek meaning of the words. From what I understand, the Greek language is
a VERY descriptive language and sometimes a few words can actually communicate
a full story. The very familiar verse of
John Chapter three and verse sixteen in the King James Bible reads “For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. “
Here is the same verse from the Amplified Bible “For God so greatly
loved and dearly prized the world that He gave His one and only, begotten Son
that whosoever believeth, clings to, relies on, trusts in Him shall not
perish, but have everlasting, eternal life.”
You can see by this translation that the word “believe” actually means a
lot of things! It means to believe,
cling to, rely on, and trust in Jesus. It
is an extraordinarily strong word and I think that you can see the bigger
meaning in the story of the “Great Blondin”.
Jean Francios Gravelet was a French acrobat
who was born in 1824 and became known as Monsieur Charles Blondin, the “Great Blondin”. In 1858 he traveled to Niagara Falls hoping
to be the first person to cross the mighty gorge on a tight rope. He
became famous for walking across a tightrope for many years and wanted to make
a name for himself in the U.S. On the
morning of June 30, 1859, about 25,000 people gathered on both sides of the falls
to see if he could make it.
He was quite a showman and after he had
walked about a third of the way across, he said down on the cable and called
for the Maid of the Mist, a famous tourist boat to anchor beneath him. He lowered a line down to them and pulled up a
bottle of wine, drank it, and then started off again and quickly made it to the
other side! After about 20 minutes he
started back to the other side with a camera on his back and stopped to take a
picture of the crowd before ending his journey for the day. You could read about his story on a number of
websites, including the Smithsonian magazine website of smithsonianmag.com
. It is an incredible story.
Blondin was
an incredible showman and every time he walked across the cable, he would do
something that would shock the crowd and show his incredible talent. He walked across the cable backward, he
pushed a wheelbarrow across, the once performed a somersault on the cable and
even more death-defying acts. Once, when he had just pushed the wheelbarrow across
the falls, he yelled to the crowd “Do you believe I can carry a person across
in this wheelbarrow?” The crowd had just
seen him cross the cable a number of times and yelled out that they believed he
could do it. He asked the crowd “Who
will get in the wheelbarrow?” No one did! The story goes that he was able to convince
his manager to ride across the falls on his back.
He
told his manager Harry Colcord “until I clear this place, be a part of me –
mind, body, and soul. If I sway, sway with
me. Do not attempt to do any balancing yourself.” If you do, we shall both go down to our
death. Harry trusted him and they safely
reached the other side.
That story is a great example of what “saving
faith” is! It is like Jesus coming before
the crowds and crying out “Who believes that I died on the cross?”, “Who believes
that I can save you from your sin?”, “Who believes that I can get you to
heaven?” We all yell, “Yes!”, “We
believe you can do it.” Jesus then asks
us to act upon that belief and entrust Him with our life! He wants us to get on his back and sway when
He sways and trust Him and not ourselves and He will get us safely home.
In our story, Blondin’s manager trusted in his
talent and experience and was willing to entrust his life to him. I am not sure that I would have been willing
to do that, but I am sure that I am willing to entrust my life to the Lord
Jesus. He has done so many things in my
life to prove to me that He is worthy of my trust, my hope, my faith,
and more. That is the kind of faith that
saves you. It does not originate from
the mind, but it involves our ability to reason, it does not originate in our
emotions, but it certainly can affect them.
It starts with our will and our decision to open our hearts and allow Him
to come in and make His home there.
Free-images.com
Romans
10:9,10 “Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe
in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you shall be saved. For with the
heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth, one confesses unto salvation.
Written by Lee Malden 2020
For more information: email lmalden@hotmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment