Anita’s heart pounded with excitement! Hardly anyone from Bolivia got to go to the United States! But she had just heard that her friends, the missionaries, were going back there for a visit, and when she asked her mother, her mother had said that she could go with them.
Anita never thought to ask the missionaries if she could go along with them. After all, hadn’t they been kind to her when the snake bit her on the arm? Her arm had hurt a lot and had puffed up like a balloon that day. So the missionaries had taken her to the doctor and had even said that she could stay at their home until her arm was better. How kind they had been. They had made sure that she had her medicine every day, given her lots of food, and let her play with all their children’s toys.
Yes, there was no reason to doubt their kindness, and now she could only think of going to the United States with them on a big airplane. Anita packed her bag and left for the town where her missionary friends lived. She did not stop to think about money for a plane ticket, and she did not even know about important papers like passports.
When she arrived at the home of her missionary friends, she knocked on the gate with great excitement. She knocked again more loudly and called to them. Still no one answered.
Sadly, Anita carried her heavy bag over to a neighbor’s house.
“Are the Alberts here?” she asked.
“Oh no,” the neighbors replied. “They left two days ago to go to the United States. They won’t be back for months.”
Poor Anita. She had been left behind.
Those who read this story will easily understand that Anita was not wise when she prepared for her trip. She did not have the money for a plane ticket or passport papers she would need, and she did not even know when her friends planned to leave. But can you also understand that many boys and girls are just as unwise about their plans to go to heaven? I’ve never met a boy or girl yet who didn’t want to go to heaven. But many who want to go there never stop to think about what they need.
To go to heaven, you must have your sins washed away in the blood of the Lord Jesus. Not one sin can ever enter into God’s home in heaven, so you must have your heart cleaned from sin before you can go there. The Lord Jesus suffered and died on the cross so that you can be saved from your sins. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Have you accepted Him as your Saviour? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)).
Perhaps you plan to be saved, but like Anita, you have not thought about when you should be saved. God’s Word, the Bible, says, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).
Many people think only of going to heaven when they die, but the Bible also tells us that the Lord Jesus is coming soon to take all the saved ones to heaven. We do not know the day or the hour when He will come, but you can be ready to go by accepting the Lord Jesus as your Saviour right now. Those who have never been saved will be left behind when Jesus comes. Then the door of salvation will be shut and will never open again.
When Anita’s missionary friends returned to Bolivia, they were amazed to hear how their little friend had expected to go with them with no money for a ticket, no passport and not even knowing when they were going. But their hearts were touched to think that she had not for one minute doubted their kindness or that they would want to have her along.
I hope you will not be like Anita in expecting to go to heaven without being prepared, but I hope you will be like her in believing in the kindness and love of God. He loves you and wants to have you in His home and with His happy family forever. Won’t you trust in His loving kindness today?