It was late in the evening when I climbed back into my car in the parking lot to go home. Leaving town, I had driven several miles out in lonesome country when I saw a hitchhiker wanting to go my way. He looked rather young, and he had a backpack on his back. I figured he must be trying to get to the campground just beyond the next town, so I stopped to pick him up.
“Where are you heading?” I asked as he settled in the seat next to me. I could see now that he was quite young.
He was quiet for a moment and then said,. “I don’t know... I’m running away from home.”
That answer scared me! What should I do with a runaway who was just a little boy. I decided to find out more about why he was running away.
“I believe in the Bible and know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour,” I said to him. “If you are in some kind of trouble, I’m going to take you right back home.”
Then he told me his name was Robert and that he was 12 years old. He went on to tell me how mean his Dad was and that he beat him and his mother. Both he and his mother had been planning to run away for a long time. Today when they were both gone he had packed his backpack and left, riding his bike. It had broken down before he got very far away from their apartment.
So Robert came to my house to spend the night. He first called his mother and told her where he was. She told him that she couldn’t come right then, because his dad was home, but she would come the next morning. She would take his dad to work, go home, pack her things, and come pick up Robert. Then they would both run away together. At least this is what Robert told me his mother had said.
Sure enough, the next morning about ten o’clock a car pulled into my driveway. However, much to my surprise and Robert’s too, both his mother and dad got out of the car!
Based upon what Robert had said about his dad, I expected he would really be upset. Instead, I found them both to be gentle, considerate, and kind. I did not get the feeling that either one of them was thinking, “Just wait until you get home! Boy, are you going to get it!” Instead, his dad told me that Robert was having some problems, and they were having difficulty talking to each other.
“I think we need to talk, Robert,” he said. “Would you like to stay here, or would you like to come home and we’ll talk?”
Robert agreed to go home, so he got into the family car with his sleeping bag, small cast-iron skillet, hunting knife, fishing gear and hiking boots. As they went out the door his mother said to me, “I can’t understand why Robert would want to run away. He has his own room, his own bunk beds, his own stereo, and we love him very much.”
There was no doubt that Robert was having problems. He thought his biggest problem was his dad and that running away would solve that problem. Well, it didn’t. It only gave him more problems—a broken bike on a dark, lonely highway and no place to go. Maybe the problem was not Robert’s dad at all. Maybe the problem was with Robert himself. Perhaps he needed someone else to blame, and that someone was his dad.
Let me ask you a question—“What do you think of God?”
Some people will answer that He is a far-away, hard-to-please God who is just waiting for us to do something wrong so He can punish us.
Is this what you think He is like? If it is, then how can you explain a verse like John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16): “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Does this sound like a God who is angry with the people of this world and is just waiting to punish them and send them to hell? No, these are happy words that tell of His wonderful love to this world. How great was His love? Great enough to send the Lord Jesus Christ, His only Son, into this world to die for sinners. We could not ask for greater love than this. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).
This is the kind and loving God that we have for you—a God who loves you so much He wants you to spend eternity with Him in heaven. But since all of us are sinners, and since sin cannot be in God’s presence, we must have our sins washed away. And that is what God’s love provided—a Saviour—the Lord Jesus Christ who was punished for the sins of all who will believe in Him. His blood shed on the cross has washed away all trace of sin from the record that God keeps. Because we are cleansed, we can spend eternity with our Saviour in heaven. Won’t you accept Him as your own Saviour now?
ML-07/10/1983