As Steve and I were driving along the side streets on our way to a friend’s house, Steve suddenly swerved the car to avoid a small object on the road.
Looking quickly out the window, I couldn’t see anything on the road. “What was it?” I asked.
“I don’t really know,” Steve answered, “but I think it was a cell phone.”
Surprised to think that a cell phone would be lying on the roadway, I looked more carefully at the road behind us. Sure enough, a small, silver phone with a blue cover was lying open on the road.
My husband is interested in everything electronic, and since he had stopped the car as he looked back at the road in his side mirror, I said to him doubtfully, “You aren’t going to rescue a cell phone, are you?”
Rescuing a cell phone did not seem very important to me, but I knew that what Steve pointed out was correct. This abandoned phone belonged to somebody, and it definitely was not safe if we left it where it was. He turned the car around and drove back. After picking it up, I was amazed that it didn’t appear to be scratched or damaged. We couldn’t imagine how it could have landed on the roadway without harm, since we assumed that it had fallen out of a moving vehicle.
We checked all the messages, phone numbers and pictures stored on the phone, but we couldn’t seem to find any information that would help us locate its owner. We kept it with us all afternoon and hoped that someone would call the number and be able to help us return it to its owner.
A cell phone may not seem very valuable. It weighs less than a pound and can be purchased for less than $20. However, to its owner it can be irreplaceable because of all the information stored in its memory.
How valuable to you is your soul? It is a part of you that you cannot see, cannot weigh and cannot buy. God created each person with a soul that will live on forever in either heaven or hell, even after the body dies and decays. Because of sin in the world, we are born with a sinful soul that deserves only hell. But Jesus loves us and died on the cross for sin so that He is able to save our souls from hell by washing us clean from sin, thereby making us ready for heaven. Your soul is so valuable that the Bible says there is nothing to give in exchange for it. “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:2626For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)). The answer to both of those questions is, “Nothing!” If you have not received Jesus as your Saviour, your sinful soul is lost on the road of life. Does this mean anything to you? It means a lot to Jesus because He loves you and wants you to be in heaven with Him someday.
As Steve and I found out later, the owner of the cell phone had spent several hours that afternoon driving up and down streets looking for his phone. He even asked some of his friends to help him! He considered it valuable, and he was willing to look for it.
Hours later, the cell phone finally rang. When I answered it, the woman calling asked to speak to Faith. I quickly explained to her that I was a total stranger and why we had the phone. Then I asked if she could tell me how to return the phone to Faith.
“Faith is my daughter and the phone belongs to her friend,” she explained. “Let me call her and tell her what happened.”
I thanked the woman and waited for the cell phone to ring again, hoping that we would be able to return it to its rightful owner. Within five minutes the phone rang again, and this time it was Faith herself on the other end. She told me how she and her friend had looked for the phone for a long while and that the phone was very valuable to them. She wanted to come over right away to claim it.
Because she was new to the area and did not recognize the name of the street, Faith stayed on another cell phone as I directed her through each turn to where I was waiting. Soon I saw the headlights of her car coming up the street. She pulled into the driveway where I was standing, and I handed her the lost cell phone.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one able to save your soul. He may be a stranger to you right now, just as I was a stranger to Faith. But because I had something that Faith wanted, she was willing to follow my directions to claim a valuable possession. Are you willing to do that with the Lord Jesus in order to know that your valuable soul is safe for eternity? He cares about you and wants to lead you to Himself, if you will call to Him in prayer and follow His instructions. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:27-2827My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27‑28)).
ML-08/22/2004