Cover:
Gospel Brochure, Large Print, 16-Point Type
Full Text of This Product
When I was nine years old, we lived on a cattle ranch in the western part of Texas. There were many coyotes on the prairies, so my father bought a beautiful, purebred greyhound to protect the calves. We called him Blackie. When he wasn’t chasing coyotes, he liked to chase rabbits.
It was fun to watch Blackie chase a jackrabbit. The rabbit would lay back both ears and run for his life with the dog at his heels.
I noticed that jackrabbits would never run into places of safety. There were many badger holes, haystacks, granaries and even hollow logs the jackrabbits could have hidden in, but they never ran into them for protection. It seemed as if their proud and self-confident spirits would not let them admit they needed help or protection. Too proud to hide, too self-confident to run to shelter, and ignoring holes in the ground or a ledge of rock, the jackrabbits depended on the speed of their strong hind legs—and lost! They were wonderful runners, but they couldn’t outrun a greyhound!
One day Blackie noticed a little cottontail rabbit in the brush along the river bottom and started to chase the tiny animal. The cottontail was only about a third the size of a jackrabbit. I thought to myself, Too bad, little rabbit. You don’t have a chance!
Suddenly, the tone of Blackie’s bark changed. At first I wondered if the dog was hurt, but when I pushed my way through the brush, I found him howling and scratching at a rock half as big as a house. The little cottontail had run into a hole under the overhanging ledge of this rock, not more than four inches above the ground, and it was perfectly safe. The little rabbit could not depend upon its own short legs to outrun Blackie, but it had enough sense to run to a place of safety in the rock.
Years have passed. I am a man now, and I have come to know the Lord Jesus as my Saviour. I have often thought of these two rabbits—the long-legged, proud, self-reliant jackrabbit that never seeks a place of safety, and the timid little cottontail that immediately runs to a safe hiding place at the first alarm. They are pictures of the two classes of sinners—for we are all sinners. Some people say, “I’ll take my chance. I have a few sins, but I’m not so bad. I’m not afraid.” So, like the jackrabbit, they try to “outrun” their sin, Satan and the judgment of God. They depend on improvement and good deeds, and their self-reliance keeps them from running to the place of safety in the Saviour of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not want to think that their sins will catch up with them. But the Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23. “God requireth that which is past.” Ecclesiastes 3:15. “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing.” Ecclesiastes 12:14.
Do you realize that God has “appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31)? “Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1 Peter 4:18. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31.
The good news of salvation is that God Himself has provided a place of safety for the sinner. It is His own blessed Son whom He sent into this world to be your Saviour and mine: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.
If you are still in your sins, we hope that you will see the terrible danger of continuing in your sins without Christ and that you will come to Him for mercy and safety. He is the Rock of Ages; and death, hell and judgment cannot touch a soul that is safe in Christ.
Today the Saviour waits with loving, outstretched arms, saying to you, “Come unto Me.” Will you accept His invitation right now to come to Him—to run to Him for safety?
J. R. Rice