I came across a group of seven or eight boys and girls playing; most of them were swinging upon a gate at a point where two roads met.
Dismounting, I asked one of them the way to M. Two curly-headed boys immediately pointed up a hill before me, and said.
“Up there, sir,” while several of the others chimed in with,
“This is the best way, sir, through the gate.”
I closely questioned them, and ultimately they all agreed that the best and nearest way was through the gate, for, added one fellow,
“They all go this way.”
As they were all standing around me, I said to them,
“Now you have answered me one question; see if you can answer me another. Who can tell me the way to heaven?”
They all seemed to have lost their tongues, and they looked first at me and then at each other, as though they were perfectly bewildered.
After a few moments silence, I said,
“Now, as none of you appear to know, I will tell you a boy’s answer to the same question; he replied, ‘First turn to the right, and keep straight on.’ Can you tell me,” I continued, “who said, ‘I am the Way’?”
“Jesus Christ,” promptly answered one. “Quite correct, my boy,” I replied, “and I hope each of you boys and girls will remember that He is the only Way to heaven. He is also the Truth, He will never deceive you; and He is the Life of all who trust in Him. God looks upon us all as dead in trespasses and sins; as lifeless as a boy I once saw dragged out of the river, who had fallen in and was drowned. But remember this, dear children, that all who go to heaven must make a start, as I must if I am to reach my destination. It is one thing to know the way to heaven, but quite another to start by entering the narrow pathway which leads to the beautiful heavenly Home.”
You, my dear young friends, may know quite as well as those country children that Jesus is both the Door and the Way to heaven; but have you ever entered by the Door? Are you walking in the Way? You may know that His blood cleanses from all sin, but have you been cleansed? You may know that there is salvation in none but Jesus, but have you received that salvation? If not, turn now to the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves you, He died for you, just now in compassionate love He calls you to Himself to receive His pardon and blessing.
As you read these lines, He is speaking to you from heaven, saying, “Come unto Me.”
Do not trifle with the Saviour, lest you die in your sins, and are Forever shut out of the Paradise of God; for Jesus once said to a company of triflers:
How loving of the Lord Jesus Christ to say:
Do not be so ungrateful as to despise His gracious words. Come to Him now and life evermore will be your portion.
ML 09/20/1931