My evangelist friend had been traveling through the countryside, and, seeking a place to stay for a few days, he found lodging in the hospitable home of a very wealthy farmer. This man had started life as a poor boy; but by hard toil and almost penurious saving, he had made his way and enriched himself in the world. Now advanced in years, he could proudly display his possessions, including the fine, large house he had built on one of the beautiful sites in his estate. Here he intended in quietness to enjoy the remainder of his days.
This very kind host was eager to show my friend all those acquired possessions that were of such interest and importance to himself. He took him to the neighboring city, and there pointed out the principal stores and warehouses. The largest places of business were his—indeed rows of houses and whole streets had been built by him.
On the return ride to the farmhouse, they drove through miles of fertile country, all the property of this same man. How proud he was to tell that he was the possessor of fifty thousand acres upon which thousands of sheep and large herds of cattle fed!
Arriving at the house, the two men ascended a tower built for the purpose of surveying the surrounding territory. On the top of this tower the farmer had placed a telescope. Through it he could watch the work going on at his various farms. He bade my friend look through the telescope, telling him as he did so that as far as his eye could reach was all his.
"Well," said my friend, after having admired all he had seen, "but what up there?"—pointing with his finger as he spoke, to heaven.
"Why, how—what do you mean?" said the farmer. "I don't quite understand.”
"You have been showing me what you possess down here, and certainly you have more of this world than most men. God has greatly blessed you. But what have you in the world to come? Have you stored up treasure in heaven?
"You have been for years amassing all this wealth. It has cost you toil and time, and now you are growing old. You know that you cannot take your houses or your farms or your flocks and herds with you beyond the grave. The day is fast drawing near when you will, whether you like it or not, be obliged to leave all this to others. Have you no inheritance for the great hereafter?”
"Well, I don't know; I can't say, for I never think much about the future. I am satisfied with the present.”
My friend then told the farmer the sweet story of God's love, and the rich inheritance that awaits those who simply believe in and receive His dear Son. He painted so bright a picture of the heavenly portion of the redeemed of the Lord that the farmer's heart was filled with wonder. When he was assured that this could be his own future through faith in the Savior's death for him, an overflow of love and longing to see that One found expression in the exclamation, "What must it be to be there!”
My reader, may God grant that you may know this treasure as the inheritance of your own heart through time and in eternity!
"We sing of the realms of the blest,
That country so bright and so fair,
The glorious mansions of rest—
But what must it be to be there?”