Ah Tzu groaned with pain and struggled to get free. Moments before, he had been chopping wildly at the tree whose branches now pinned him to the ground. He hadn’t been as careful as he should have been, and the tree had toppled the wrong way. If only he hadn’t been in such a hurry! But after spending the day on the mountains watching Auntie’s goats, he had been talking to another goat herder and had forgotten about getting wood for Auntie’s evening fire.
Ah Tzu lived with the woman he called “Auntie,” but she was not his aunt and had no real love for him. She had rescued him from the cabin where his mother had died when he was a tiny baby. Auntie had raised him with her own family since that day. Now that he was big enough to take care of her goats and get her firewood, at least he earned his keep. But life was hard—so hard that when he had overheard a stranger talking about a new God that came from heaven to die for us so we could live forever, Ah Tzu had turned away. He didn’t want to live forever if it meant living like he lived now.
The boy’s wild struggles to get free from the big tree were useless. He began shouting, hoping someone would hear and come to help him. No one did. Then he thought of the gods Auntie worshipped and called on them to help him. Instead of help, he heard the call of a mountain wolf in the distance.
The sun sank, and Ah Tzu realized with terror that he might die right there. Soon the wolves might come, and he would be helpless to defend himself.
But then he remembered the stranger preaching in his village about the God who died for us. What was it that she had said?
“His name is Ye-su (Jesus), and if you believe in Him, you will live forever. He loves every one of you, and when you call to Him, He will answer you.”
Well, he hadn’t wanted to live forever when he first heard the stranger talking, but knowing he might die that night, he suddenly thought it would be worth calling on this new God for help. And so he said, “Oh, Jesus, please look at me and help me! I will die tonight if You do not hear me!”
The night was still. Suddenly he heard a tremendous crack of thunder, and a strong wind came up from the valley below him. It caught the big branches of the tree and gradually turned it over, sending it hurtling down the side of the mountain.
It took a moment for Ah Tzu to figure out exactly what had happened. But finally he stood up, amazed at the miracle that Jesus had done for him. His arm was still crushed, but he forgot the pain in the pure joy of being saved from death. He whispered, “Thank-you, Jesus, for hearing and answering my prayer.” The flashes of lightning lit his way as he raced home, and the claps of thunder did not frighten him.
Before he turned to the Lord Jesus to help him, Ah Tzu had come to a hopeless place in his life and needed a miracle. What about you? Do you know that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15))? God loved all the people in this world so much that He sent His Son to die for us, so we can go to His happy home in heaven when we leave this world. But this free gift of eternal life in heaven can only be yours if you accept it. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). You don’t have to do anything to be saved from the penalty for your sins; simply believe that Jesus has done it all for you on the cross and accept Him as your very own Saviour. He loves you and wants to have you live forever with Him in heaven.
But if you refuse to accept this gift of God’s love, you will have to pay the penalty for your sins in that awful place the Bible calls “the lake of fire.” “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)).
Will you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your very own Saviour right now and be saved? “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:1313For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)).
ML-06/27/2010