As I walked through a Jacksonville airport store, I was confused. On the table was a stack of red and white lifeguard shirts. But since when can just anybody buy and wear a lifeguard shirt? Don’t you have to first be trained? Certified?

Looking closer, I realized the shirts were merely souvenirs for a popular swim spot known as Jax Beach (shown in much smaller print). No doubt the shirts sell well because our age is consumed with “looking the part.”

Going into a sporting goods store these days, you'll find very little sports equipment. It's primarily athletic wear, or "athleisure," because (in addition to being comfortable) people are fixated on wanting to look the part.

This desire to look the part has also affected us spiritually. For example, when it comes to sharing our faith, many of us can readily quote John 3:16. So we sound right. We "look" like spiritual lifeguards. Yet many haven’t spent time—let alone shared the gospel—with an unsaved friend for years, if ever. Plenty of us could use some training because real lives are at stake.

When the Bible uses the word "saved" or "salvation," this is not a bland theological lectureship. Think of a drowning victim in his last conscious moment desperately reaching out for a life ring.

That’s what’s in the balance—life and death! That is why it's not enough to merely "wear the tee shirt.” My apologies for shouting here, but this is absolutely that important.

I can assure you, there is someone in your life who desperately needs to hear the simple gospel from you. Someone who is spiritually drowning. Do you feel a sense of urgency? Enough to join Jesus in His urgent, life-saving rescue mission?

When it comes to sharing the life-saving message of Jesus and His death on the cross, are you a lifeguard? Or do you just wear the tee shirt?