We were traveling by train to leave a large city. The seats were all occupied, and the passengers were to be thus together for about four hours ere we reached our destination. Gradually the reserve among us began to break down, until most of those in the coach were talking freely to one another. After a while the conversation centered between an elderly gentleman and a youth of about nineteen years of age.
As I sat listening my heart was drawn to the youth. He was that sort of lad that makes his mark in the world, as men say. With all the bombast of youth, he was smoking his cigar for all present to see, and blowing great volumes of smoke as though he alone were endued with power.
The words of King David came to my mind: "God is not in all his thoughts." How true! If God had been dead, that youth could hardly have cared less. But God is not dead. Jesus is not dead. That lowly Man who trod this earth for none other object than the will of God and the eternal blessing of man is now seated at the right hand of God, "crowned with glory and honor." More than that, God has decreed that "every knee shall bow" to that same blessed Jesus—bowed either by divine love or divine justice. Bow you must!
Infidel, skeptic, atheist, materialist, or loud-voiced professor of religion, your blatant proclamations may swell the bubble of your name in this world, but— that bubble must burst. Meet God you must. Bow to Jesus and confess Him Lord of all you shall. Deny Him if you will, but what God says is unalterably true; and woe be to you who continue to forget God.
Speeding on our journey, the Spirit of God aroused a desire in my heart to speak to that young man. What to say and when to say it I wondered. Looking to the Lord for guidance, the only words I could think of were— "your sins." I knew I must speak soon, for only about ten minutes remained until our journey would end.
Near the end of the conversation between the two, I heard this young man say that soon he would be working in this mighty city, and that "dollars" were his only object. How he obtained them he cared not. At the sacrifice of everything, he was after his "dollars."
Now came my long-awaited moment. Quickly I interposed. "Dollars are not everything! You have a life to live beyond the grave. You must give an account to God of how you have spent your life, with dollars or without. Meet God you must; and with your sins still on you, you must account to Him for them and for the life you have lived without His Son.
"Ah," said he, "I'm going to make a success of life. That means an accumulation of dollars, and that, above all, is my object."
Said I: "But do not forget that you have to die! Beware of the crash on the other side of the grave."
We said no more, and soon we parted. Eternity will reveal the effect of those few words upon him.
What about yourself, reader: Are you not sinning against God, in seeking FIRST that (almighty?) dollar? His Word says: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:3333But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33).
God is not mocked. You must meet Him against whom you have sinned. Accept His offers of mercy. He loves you too much to let you go unwarned. Turn to Jesus. His mighty heart of divine love yearns to make Himself dear to your heart, to give you heaven as your home, and to bring you into relationship with God as your Father.