We were getting excited about our trip to Italy. There were so many things to do to get ready. One of them was to exchange some of our American money for Italian money.
The government allowed us to take only a limited amount of Italian money. The bank gave us 1600 Italian liras for each of our American dollars. Our travel agent warned us that we must go to a reliable place when we needed to exchange more money in Italy. “Go to the American Express office,” she said. “They will be sure to give you good money.”
Prices are high in Italy, and soon we needed more Italian money. We started out to look for the American Express office. What a hard time we had finding it! There were many little shops with this sign in the window:/
It was so difficult to find the American Express office that we were tempted to go to one of those little shops. They were everywhere! But we remembered the warning of our travel agent and kept asking directions and looking for the American Express office. Finally we found it and exchanged our money.
To find the true way to heaven you need to go to the right source - the Bible. Many people will tell you the wrong way, and there are many wrong ways. But the Lord Jesus instructs, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:1314). Heaven is where Jesus is, and His way is the right way.
Now that we had good Italian money we could go shopping. Each time we handed a salesperson a 50,000 lira bill, he would hold it up to the light. Then he would give us our change and the things we had bought.
One day when we were waiting at the counter to pay for our purchases, there was another American ahead of us. She handed the salesman a 50,000 lira bill. He held it up to the light and then said, “I’m sorry I cannot accept this.”
“Why not?” asked the astonished customer. “I just got it at the shop down the street.”
“I’m sorry. I cannot accept it. Give me that one,” he said, pointing to a smaller bill in the lady’s hand. She did. He held it up to the light and then, seeing that it was a good bill, accepted it and gave her the things she had purchased.
The poor lady was upset and very angry with the man who had given her the bad money. She had not gone to the American Express office to make sure she received good money.
It’s a serious thing to be deceived into accepting counterfeit money, but it’s far more serious to accept wrong information about God and the way to heaven. Deceivers are easy to find. They are everywhere. But the Lord Jesus warns, “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matthew 24:44And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (Matthew 24:4)). We must go to the right source for truth, and that source is Jesus and His Word, the Bible. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)).
When the storekeepers held the bills up to the light, they could see a line running all the way across the bills: a line that could not be duplicated by the counterfeiters in their bad money! And there is a line that runs right through the Bible too. It is a scarlet line that speaks of the blood of Jesus. His blood shed on Calvary’s cross is necessary to wash our sins away. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). If anyone tells you that you can do something to get into heaven besides simply trusting in the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, they are counterfeiters.
We were very thankful we’d gone to the American Express office to get good money even though it had taken us extra time and effort. And it takes time and effort to read the Word of God carefully to learn the truth that will show us the only way to heaven. But eternal life and a happy home in heaven are well worth the effort.
ML-03/03/1996