A story is told of a mother living in a certain tropical country, who, from an upstairs window was watching her little boy at play in the garden below her. The little chap was busily engaged in building something which took him to and fro, from a pile of gravel or stones near at hand.
As the mother looked down upon the child she suddenly saw something that filled her with horror, for there, just by the pile of stones, directly in the path the boy would have taken on his next trip, lay one of the deadliest of venernous serpents, whose bite was certain death.
Without losing a moment, she called to her child,
“Harry, mother wants you to come into the house at once! Don’t stop a minute, come by the path to the back porch! Don’t wait a moment! Come at once!”
Something in the mother’s tone caused the child, who looked up in astonishment, to obey at once, and in a few moments he was safely clasped in his mother’s arms, while servants were sent out to destroy the unwelcome and deadly intruder.
If the little boy had not heeded his mother’s warning, but had continued with his play, or had answered,
“Not just now, mother, a little later,” or words of a similar kind, and had continued to go to the stone pile, without doubt he would have been attacked and bitten by the poisonous snake, but he obeyed without question and no harm came to him.
Did it ever occur to you, friend, that in the garden of your life, lies an enemy of yours—death? A deadly enemy it is, with a sting (1 Cor. 15:5656The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:56)) that is fatal to all, and none have escaped who have been attacked by it. In the midst of our play, or our toil down here, that deadly enemy is always near at hand, and sooner or later all come under its power.
But God, who is love, and who willeth not the death of a sinner, has provided a way of escape, which cost the life of His own beloved Son, and through. His Holy Spirit, is urging you to hasten to a place of safety, before it is too late!
There is no time to lose, and no matter how deep our occupation may be with the things of this life, and how much we may be absorbed with them; that One above is aware of the danger, and tells us in no uncertain tones:
And where is that place of safety to which we are urged to flee? It is a place called Calvary, where the most guilty of terror-stricken sinners may freely come, and there he finds a stream of most preicous blood, shed by the Son of God, under the shelter of which, there waits for him, life eternal; guaranteed by God the Father (John 10:2929My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (John 10:29)), God the Son (John 10: 28), and God the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:6, 76This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (1 John 5:6‑7)).
ML 09/07/1941