and about what the people were mill ing around. He pressed his way as close as he could and then he saw stretched out on the ground the form of a man who had evidently fallen over the cliff the night before. Look ing at the pathetic sight, he reasoned that the fellow had perhaps lost his direction in the dark of night. He may not have known that there was a high cliff right there. Then it was too late. In the agonizing moment that followed he lost his life. But there was something else there that caught the preacher’s eye. The man’s right hand was tightly clenched. From the fist there protruded just a few pieces of dead grass. Those few pieces of straw, the preacher reasoned, were evidently all the man could get hold of as he felt himself falling off the cliff. He reached out to grab hold of something which might hold him up. Instead, the only thing there to grab hold of were just those few weeds. Similarly, the world is in the dark of night, mentally, spiritually, moral ly; in every sense. Men are walking toward a certain precipice. It’s our responsibility to rightly divide, to cut a straight furrow, to go down the line on the truth, with our eyes solid ly fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose is that those who know not the Saviour may see Him, whom to know is life eternal. Jesus said, “I am the truth . . . no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” * * ic CORRECTING THE PROBLEM It would be interesting to know how many listeners we may have who can remember pumping water on a farm, rather than just turning on the faucet and having an unlimited supply. There was a man who supposedly purchased a place on which was an old pump. He began immediately drawing water. The neighbors rushed over and warned him that the substance was poisonous and
unsafe for use. The former occupants he was told, the father, the mother, and al^ the children, had actually died from drinking the strangely poisoned water. The man thanked them kindly and then proceeded to remedy the situation, or at least so he thought. He mended the wooden platform over the well. He put a new handle on the pump. He fixed a crack in the spout. Then he painted the whole thing a beautiful bright red. How foolish this was! Such activity, although it enhanced the outward ap pearance a great deal, would never pre vent him from being poisoned. He had problems much more serious. Painting the pump was beside the point. All of his activity was useless. What the man needed was a new well. There’s a real lesson in this for us, too! The Lord Jesus Christ said to one of the finest, most religious, honest, and respected men of his day, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). “Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matt. 23:26). Salvation is not super ficial. It’s not man’s exterior that needs help, but rather his inner soul. “There fore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). * 'k * A CHILD’S TEST No doubt there are many of you who like me learned as one of the first golden texts of the Bible that lovely Sunday school truth in our Lord’s words, “Suffer the little children to come unto me; and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” How the Saviour loves boys and girls! They’re never too young to be taught the truths of eternal life and the way of salvation. One little girl learned this verse in a very unique manner. She was to recite it in a church program. The auditorium as well filled and the audience hushed as she tried to think of her part. Then finally she blurted out the only thing she could think of, “Suffer the little children to come unto me; and don’t anybody try to stop them!” 13
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