The Infallible Chart

A ship’s mate once challenged a chaplain with the question, “How is it that you are always talking to my men about Jesus Christ? Did you ever see Him?” “No, I never did.” “Then how can you tell a man to trust in someone you have never seen? I can’t see any sense in that.” “Well,” replied the chaplain, “when you head for a place of refuge in a storm, what sense is there in telling your men to let go the anchor when they cannot see the ground? On what principle do you trust your ship and your life to ground you have never seen and never can see?” “Oh,” said the mate, “we go by our chart.” “Exactly,” replied the chaplain, holding up his Bible, “and I, too, go by a chart, and it is an infallible one, while yours is not. It tells me of the only sure ground of my salvation—the atoning work of Christ upon the cross. My faith, like your anchor, takes hold of this unseen but real ground, and so rides out the storm of life in peace and safety.”