Early Monday morning I went to the bank shortly after it opened. There was only one teller’s window open, and there was only one customer at that window. I took my place in line behind her. Since she had three bank bags of money to deposit, there was a little wait in line. Just to pass the time I said, “You must have had a good sales weekend.”
The lady turned around and said, “Hello,” and called me by name. I was surprised and had to ask who she was. She informed me that her children had gone to school where I had been a teacher, and that her boys had been in my class.
Upon learning her boys’ names, I didn’t remember them. I explained that they must have been somewhere in “the middle of the road” of the thousands of students I had taught over many years. The very good students or those whose behavior was very bad are the ones most teachers remember.
Now, it’s not bad to be in “the middle of the road” when it comes to school, but there isn’t any “middle of the road” when it comes to where each of us will spend eternity after we leave this life. The Bible tells us there are only two roads, and it explains where each road ends. One is wide and the other is narrow: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that [leads] to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. ... Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which [leads] unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Many of you boys and girls have been taught about these two roads. We all began our lives on the broad road. The Bible says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Each one of us has been born a sinner and has committed many sins from a very young age. This puts us on the broad road that leads to destruction—the place of suffering called hell. The only good thing about the broad road is that you don’t have to stay on it; there is enough room to turn around.
Turning around on the broad road is what it means to repent—to be sorry for your sins. Believing you are a sinner and believing that the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for your sins on the cross turns you around on the broad road and places you on the narrow road that leads to life—to heaven.
If you are still on that broad road, won’t you turn around and accept that wonderful gift of God’s love? “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
ML-07/15/2012