Close by the orchard stood an old tool shed. It had one window at the back which was bright and warm in the afternoon sunshine, and buzzing with dozens of stupid flies. Young Mr. Spider, who was just setting out to make his own way in life, spied that sunny window at once. It was a perfect harvest field for a nimble young spider —a place to work hard and feast well —an excellent spot for success. “Why not?
Well, spiders are just spiders you know, and their wits are not very big, though it is true that they have eight legs growing out of their heads. As for the spider’s heart, he really has none at all. So Mr. Spider made his web with all the wisdom God had given him, and a fine web it was. Then he hid in a corner, after the manner of his kind for thousands of years past.
You, my friend, have a head and a heart, and God requires that you should look before you and consider what the end of your life will be. You plan to succeed, and do well for yourself, no doubt, but after that, what? Where will you spend eternity? Many a man with this world’s wisdom has been no more far-sighted than a spider as to eternal things. If you are not saved God wants you to stop now and consider this question: Where will you spend eternity?
That young spider caught a house fly first, then a fat bluebottle, and then half a dozen others. He was doing well, very well indeed, but just at that moment, a bluebird in the orchard spied him and chose him for her dinner. He was gone, quite gone, and the gardener came and swept down the cobwebs.
What next? Oh, another spider came and built there, and the same story was repeated. Spiders never learn, and they never care. Alas, the same story is repeated too, over and over among men and women, only the results are far more sad and solemn. They seek their own success, and leave God out until they are cut off and lost—lost for all eternity.
Reader, will you learn? You have been told that God must punish sin, and that death and hell are the end of a Christless life. Will you turn this moment, and seek most earnestly to know the way of escape which God, through Christ, has provided for you?
ML 09/27/1953