TITUS SALT was just a poor boy and when still quite young he had to work for his living in a woolen mill. He was a hard worker, however, with an inventive mind, and saved his money. He became manager and later on owned his own mill. After he invented "Alpaca", he became a multi-millionaire. He built a model town for his workers, and was a highly respected and honored figure in social and government circles.
But with all his wealth and all that the world offered him, Titus Salt was not satisfied. As wise King Solomon has said long before, "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." Eccles. 1:88All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. (Ecclesiastes 1:8). All that Titus had heard, seen, and possessed had not given, could not bring him satisfaction.
One Sunday morning Titus heard a preacher tell about how, while sitting in his garden, he watched a caterpillar climb a painted stick which had been stuck into the ground as a decoration. The caterpillar slowly climbed to the top of the stick, then reared itself, felt this way and that for some juicy leaf or twig on which to feed, or for some way to climb higher. But the caterpillar was disappointed, and finding 'nothing, it slowly returned to the ground. As it crawled along, it came to another painted stick, and crawled up that. It was the same thing over again, and this happened several times.
"There are many painted sticks in this world," said the preacher. "There are the painted sticks of pleasure, of wealth, of popularity, of power, of sport, and of fame. All these call to men and say, 'Climb me, and you will find the desire of your heart. Climb me and you will fulfill the meaning of your life. Climb me and taste the fruits of success. Climb me and find satisfaction.' But, continued the preacher, "they are only painted sticks."
The very next day the preacher had a visitor. It was the multimillionaire. "Sir," he said, "I was in your congregation last night, and heard what you said about the painted sticks. I want to tell you that I have been climbing them, and today I am a weary man. Tell me, is there rest for a weary millionaire?"
The preacher had the great joy of pointing that sin-burdened man to the Lord Jesus who said,
And Titus Salt, who had long sought satisfaction from this world and had never found it, laid the heavy burden of sins at the feet of the Lord Jesus, accepting Him as his personal Saviour, and was able to sing joyfully,
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting place,
And He has made me glad.
Friend, are you too climbing the painted sticks of this world in the vain pursuit of satisfaction and happiness? The Scripture says,
Are you not burdened about your sins? Turn now, like Titus Salt, to the only Saviour, and there at His feet confess that you are a sinner and want to be saved. In Him you will find pardon, peace, and joy forever. His precious blood cleanseth 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)) "He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." (Psa. 107:99For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalm 107:9)).
Messages of the Love of God 8/3/1975