Patrick’s mother led him by the hand into the tall building that had an indoor climbing wall. Five-year-old Patrick was small for his age, but he was quick and strong for his size. His eyes lit up and an ear-to-ear grin spread across his face when he saw the wall. He had climbed the wall a few times before and knew it was a lot of fun. The wall was about thirty feet wide and twenty-five feet high. It looked like it was made out of brown sandstone and had foot and toe holds, none of them very large.
A worker fastened Patrick into a shoulder harness and made sure it was good and snug. Then the worker snapped a safety line onto the harness. One end of the safety line had been passed through a pulley system in the ceiling of the building. Patrick’s mother held the other end of the line in her hands. She would keep a close watch on Patrick as he climbed. If he stumbled or fell, she could pull him away from the wall and gently lower him to the ground.
Just about as nimble and quick as a mountain goat, Patrick found the necessary foot and toe holds and climbed the wall. When he got to the top, he called out with a big toothy grin, “Mom, I made it!”
“Okay, Patrick, good job,” she called to him. “Now push off and jump, and I’ll lower you to the ground,” she instructed.
This part was as much fun as the climbing. Patrick pushed off from the wall and did a free fall. He had complete trust in his mom and the safety line. For a few moments it felt as if he were flying, as his mother slowly let out the rope and lowered him to the ground.
“Can I do it again, Mom?” he asked.
“No, Patrick. Once is enough for the day,” she told him. She unsnapped the safety line and was just about to unbuckle his shoulder harness when an old friend came up to her, greeted her, and the two of them began talking. For a few minutes she took her attention off Patrick. It was all the time he needed to climb the wall for the second time. And he climbed it just as nimbly and expertly as he did the first time. When he got to the top he called out, “I’m ready to come down now.”
His mother turned around and saw him at the top of the wall! Seeing he had disobeyed her, she exclaimed, “What are you doing up there?” She took the safety line into her hands and was about to yell “Jump!” . . . in fact, she had just started to say the word when she realized, with a terrible fright, that the safety line was no longer attached to Patrick’s shoulder harness! She had almost told him to jump to what would have been certain injury or even death! She stopped herself just in time and instead told him in a very commanding voice, “HANG ON AND DON’T MOVE!”
Let me ask each of you boys and girls right now, Do you have a “safety line” connected to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of sinners? Your answer can be “yes” only if you have had your sins washed away in His precious blood. It is the privilege of everyone who has come to the Lord Jesus in faith to know they are forgiven from their sins and safe. Forgiveness and safety cannot be earned by good works that anyone has done, but only because they have placed their faith in the saving power of the Lord Jesus. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:89).
The manager saw the whole climbing-wall incident and realized Patrick’s danger. He quickly brought a ladder and climbed up to Patrick, carried the boy down and handed him to his mother, who was quite shaken because of what had almost happened.
When anyone truly believes on the Lord Jesus from the heart, they become a child of God and belong to Him and are safe forever. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)).
If anyone who belongs to Jesus is called from this life on earth, He will bring that child of God safely to Himself. It is like a safety line that is firmly attached to each one who believes on the Lord Jesus, and it is a safety line that will never break or fail!
Sadly, many people are passing through life without that safety line, because they have not put their faith in the Saviour of sinners. Patrick would have been badly hurt or even killed if he had jumped the second time he climbed the wall when no safety line was attached to his shoulder harness. Anyone who has never placed his faith in the Saviour will come to great harm too. When they die, the Bible says they will be sent away into the blackness of hell forever.
Oh, be wise! No person should climb a high rock wall without a safety line, and no one should go through life without a saving faith in the Lord Jesus! Won’t you receive Him as your Saviour today so that all danger of perishing in your sins will be past? “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
ML-07/23/2006