Claude Harrold set out to buy a new car. It was not every day that he made such a purchase, so he gave the whole day to making his important choice. He visited showrooms all morning, looked at picture folders, and listened to salesmen’s long stories.
About noon he met an old friend and they talked the matter over from all angles, so that he had almost made his decision when they parted.
He had returned to his hotel to eat, when an urgent message called him to the home of the same friend whom he had met at noon. He was rather impatient with himself and with the poor success of his day’s shopping, when he found himself led up to the bedside of his friend, who had been seized with a sudden illness, and was very low.
Mr. Harrold was shocked. He grasped the sick man’s hand in silence. Only a few words were spoken, and he came away with this last message from a dying man, “Do as you will wish you had done when you face eternity.”
The new car was forgotten for the time being, for what is a thing like that in the face of eternity? Eternity—the long, never-ending destiny of every soul into whose nostrils God has breathed the breath of life. There is no change, no improvement in eternity. It is forever in heaven, or forever in hell. No wonder the car was forgotten that day.
During the next week Mr. Harrold and his wife knelt down and prayed together as they thought of eternity. They prayed that God would teach them how to be prepared for eternity, and they looked in His Word for the answer. I do not know whether or not they bought a car just then, but I do know that God heard their prayer, and He will most certainly hear yours if you call upon Him in truth. What will you wish you had done when you face eternity? You will certainly wish that you had gotten rid of the load of your sins—that you had settled the question of your soul’s salvation, if you have not already done so.
Now is the time to settle this question, for death often strikes without warning. The Lord Jesus is ready now to receive you. His death has atoned for the sins of “whosoever will.” My dear reader, will you own Him now as your Saviour and Lord? It is a simple thing to do it today. Tomorrow may be forever too late.
“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Proverbs 27:1.
ML 05/09/1954