Waterlogged Christians

A friend of mine said he was at the River Mersey, in Liverpool, a few years ago, and he saw a vessel which had to be towed with a great deal of care into the harbor. It was clear down to the water’s edge and he wondered why it did not sink. Pretty soon there came another vessel, without any help at all; it did not need any tug to tow it in, but it steamed right up the Mersey past the other vessels. He made inquiry, and he found the vessel that had to be towed in was what they called waterlogged—that is, it was loaded with lumber and material of that kind; and having sprung a leak had partially sunk, and it was very hard work to get into the harbor.

Now, I believe there are a great many professed Christians, a great many, perhaps, who are really Christians, who have become waterlogged. They have too many earthly treasures, and it takes nearly the whole church—the whole spiritual power of the church—to look after these worldly Christians, to keep them from going back entirely into the world.

Why, if the whole church were, as John Wesley said, “hard at it, and always at it,” what a power there would be, and how soon we would reach the world and the masses; but we are not reaching the world, because the church itself has become conformed to the world and worldly minded, and because so many are wondering why they do not grow in grace while they have more of the earth in their thoughts than God.

Ministers would not have to urge people to live for heaven if their treasures were up there; they could not help it; their hearts would be there, and if their hearts were there their minds would be up there, and their lives would tend toward heaven. They could not help living for heaven if their treasures were there.

Dwight L. Moody, Heaven (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1995).