It was a charming winter’s morning, the roads were hard and dry, the frosty air brought the color to our cheeks, and the untrodden snow sounded crisp under our feet. A little friend, whom we will call Eva, was my companion.
We took our walk along a country road, where the unmelted snow became cleaner as we got away from the town. When Eva had run on a good way ahead of me, I halted before a lovely bank of the purest snow. It looked tempting, and my umbrella was soon at work making holes and figures.
At last I wrote my name in large round letters; very beautifully it stood out from that depth of snow; you could have read it from the middle of the road.
But I have been along that way many times since and have never seen my name.
“O!” you will say, “of course not, the snow has melted.” Just so, and my name has melted too. I have often seen children write their names in the sand, and very soon, as you know, the waves have washed them quite away.
Let us see what God’s Word says about the writing of names,
“O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” Jer. 17:1313O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13).
When Jesus was here, He told His disciples not to rejoice at the great things they had been doing,
Now we know that God is going to burn the earth up, so it is of no use to have our names written there. But have you had yours written in heaven?
“Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
You see how careful we ought to be to have our names written there.
It is God who writes these names. He writes the name of any child who believes in His dear Son Jesus.
Some child may say, “O, but many children have the same name as I, and mine is the same as father’s.”
Quite true. I know two girls called Annie Harvey and two boys named John Brown. Still God knows each one separately, for if “He numbers the hair of our heads,” don’t you think He knows every child’s face? Never fear, God will make no mistake. He won’t let some other person into heaven instead of you, nor will He allow you to go there instead of someone else.
It is the names of those who have eternal life that are written in the book of life, and Jesus said,
ML 12/10/1933