I looked at my watch, and it was only three o’clock. It seemed like we had been traveling for such a long time. We had been having trouble with the car, and it just kept going slower and slower. In fact, it was going so slowly that Dad decided to stop at a service station to see what was wrong. As we drove up the ramp to the service station, I saw something crossing the road. I looked closer and discovered that it was a turtle heading straight across the four-lane highway! Dad pulled over, hopped out of the car, and picked up the turtle just before it started to cross the highway. He carried it safely back to the field and pointed it in the direction from which it had come. We all sighed, relieved.
When we arrived at the service station, Dad found a mechanic who was able to repair the car. As we were starting off again, I looked back to see if I could find the turtle. Sure enough, there it was crawling towards the highway again, determined to cross it!
Many people are just like that turtle. They are determined to go their own way, not paying attention to the danger ahead. They refuse the goodness and love of God, who wants everyone to be saved from their sins and from the danger ahead. The Bible clearly tells us that a person who is following his own way will be led to destruction. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:1212There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12). But the Lord Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6).
Once more, Dad stopped and picked up the turtle, but this time he carried it across the highway and put it down in the field on the other side, towards which it was heading. This time we waited to make sure it stayed in its place of safety before we went on our way.
By ourselves, we are just as helpless as that turtle, and we need to let the Lord Jesus carry us in the right way, the way that leads to heaven. We must choose between the path of death and the path of everlasting life. Believe that the Lord Jesus died and shed His blood for your sins, and you are forgiven. From the moment you do, you will be on the path of safety and everlasting happiness. “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.” 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).
ML-01/30/1983