The pink and blue bus rolled along the narrow roads of Bermuda. At one of the stops some schoolgirls in their neat uniforms got on the bus. They each dropped a ticket into the fare box and went to sit in the back of the bus. All, that is, except one little girl.
She searched all through her backpack but could not find her ticket. She called to her friends in the back of the bus, but they didn’t answer. The bus started to move. The little girl lost her balance, but a kind lady put out her arm and pulled the girl to the empty seat beside her.
We thought of the journey of life. Each of us must have our “fare” paid or we cannot go to heaven. We do not have the fare and our friends cannot help us. What are we to do?
Meanwhile we have difficulties in life. The kind lady helped the little girl when she might have fallen. God protects us too. Angels are His “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for [or serve] them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:1414Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)). We can’t see them, but they protect us even before we are saved.
The next time the bus stopped our little friend went back where her friends were sitting. The driver didn’t seem to care. He was busy driving his bus along those narrow, twisting roads.
Some people think that God has forgotten the world. He is too busy to think of us, so we can do anything we like. This is not true; He knows everything that is going on in the world, and He certainly cares.
Later, when the girls got off the bus, what do you think happened? As the little girl got off, she dropped a ticket into the fare box. The kind driver leaned toward her and said, “Thank you, darlin’.”
Someone had paid her fare. We guessed that would happen. Very likely the driver knew it too. He only had a kind word for the little girl.
I think you know who has paid our “fare” to heaven - the Lord Jesus Christ! A student ticket only costs a few cents, but Jesus paid our “fare” to heaven with His life. His blood was shed on Calvary’s cross to put away our sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
How can we get our “ticket” for heaven? What must we do? “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 3:1616For 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)). Jesus has already paid our “fare.” We only have to claim it by believing on Him.
Have you received your “ticket” to heaven?
ML-08/11/1996