There is a city called Juarez, in Mexico. It is just across the Rio Grande River from El Paso, Texas. Although the two cities are so close, there is a huge difference between them. El Paso has lovely weather, plenty of good food and nice houses to live in. Juarez is a very poor city.
Mr. and Mrs. Samuels, a Christian couple, once had a day free to spend near these cities. They stopped for breakfast at a restaurant in El Paso. Bowing their heads and thanking the Lord Jesus for their food, they also asked Him to guide them to meet people they could help that day.
Very soon, two women sat down at a table next to them and started talking with them. These women were Christians, and they soon realized that the Lord Jesus had guided them to stop in this restaurant for a cup of coffee. One had prayed a prayer just like Mr. Samuels’ that morning, and soon they all felt that the Lord had brought them together.
The two Christian women worked with a group that collected food, clothing and firewood to give to the needy people in Juarez. They also told them the good news of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Samuels decided to help them that day.
The night before, the temperature in Juarez had dropped to -4°F, and they had also gotten 22 inches of snow recently. Most of the people in Juarez were not used to that kind of cold and they had no way to keep warm.
As the Samuels helped that day, they saw many proofs of how poor the people in Juarez were. There was a little girl who had no shoes and was wearing only a thin dress, standing barefoot in the snow. One of the houses they went into had a fire burning right on the concrete floor with no chimney, so the house was full of smoke. Little children were trying to get warm around the fire.
In Juarez, not only is life very hard, but worse than that, there are many people who have never heard that God loves them.
These two cities remind me of heaven and hell. One city has so much to give people happiness, and the other has so much to cause sadness. Satan is the one who wants to take people to hell, and I hope you know what he is like. The Bible describes him as a thief, who comes “to steal, and to kill and to destroy” (John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)). The Lord Jesus is the One who wants to take you to heaven, and He is a good and kind Shepherd, who came so that people can have “life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)). Which one do you belong to?
Messages of God’s Love 7/16/2023