Pastor’s Corner | True grit personified

What do Rooster Cogburn and Jesus have in common?

That may almost seem like a irreverent question to ask, seeing as how the rough around the edges.

U.S. Marshall in “True Grit” does not possess a lot of Christ-like tendencies.

However, Rooster did perform a heroic act that is a great analogy of what Jesus did for us! In the movie “True Grit,” a 14-year old girl had fallen into a pit and her foot was tangled in a vine preventing her from getting out. Wait, it gets worse.

Lying next to her was a skeleton of a person that had obviously never made it out of the pit. Can you imagine lying next to a skeleton? But wait, it gets worse.

The skeleton was wearing clothes and hidden underneath the shirt was a swarm of rattlesnakes that began to slither toward the girl. She was bitten. She screamed. Rooster heard her cry and came to her rescue. With his pistol he shot and killed every snake. He cut her loose from the vine and pulled her out of the pit. But wait, there’s more.

Because she was bitten she had to get to a doctor.

He put her on his horse and rode hard all through the night. He rode until the horse could not go any further. She was weak and unconscious. Although shewas delivered from the pit;

it seemed as if the serpent had gotten the best of her.

But wait, there’s more.

Rooster gathered her in his arms and carried her until he dropped to his knees … in front of the doctor’s house. She was healed and she lived.

There is a similar story that actually involves you.

We all have sinned and the wages of sin is death. I can’t imagine the horrors of hell but I know it’s worse than being stuck in a dark pit with skeletons and snakes.

Yet that’s where we are dead in our sins. The Bible says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice on the cross and by his stripes you are healed.

Jesus has scooped you up in his arms and carried you all the way to the Father.

That’s true grit.

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Editor’s note: Tim Wallace is pastor of Cross Brand Church. To contact him, e-mail [email protected].

For more of Wallace’s articles, go to www.tallinthesaddle.wordpress.org

Church, Pages 2 on 01/12/2011