While driving a car, have you ever gone through a red light and been pulled over by the police? If so, you know how frightening it is to have the policeman talk to you. He will give you a ticket no matter what excuse you give.
However, it is possible to drive through a red light without worrying about the police. It only happens when you are in an ambulance. It happened to me once.
My friend and I had taken the private commuter bus to a shopping plaza where we planned to do some shopping. While getting on an escalator I missed the first step and fell. That caused my friend behind me to also fall, but she didn’t get hurt. I got a nasty cut on my left leg between the ankle and knee. It bled and really made a mess.
The store manager brought chairs for us to sit on. After he called for an ambulance, he wrapped towels around my leg. Our bus driver found us sitting there, and he told me, “You will have to go to the hospital to see if there might be a broken bone.” No one likes to go to a hospital, but like it or not, that is where they took me.
First the paramedics came. After putting on a temporary bandage, they slipped on a strange-looking plastic boot. Then I was put on a stretcher and carried to the ambulance.
What a loud, wailing noise the siren made. All the cars on the street quickly pulled over to the side to let us pass. We had the right-of-way and only slowed down for traffic lights - even the red ones - as we sped along.
Before long we arrived at the hospital. From the ambulance I was put in a wheelchair and then wheeled right into the emergency room.
The doctor’s words were comforting—“No bones broken, but I’ll have to put in some stitches. It won’t hurt because I’ll make it numb first.” My friend waited in another room. Our bus driver had said he would stop at the hospital a little later to pick us up. So it wasn’t long until we were back home.
The ambulance has every right to go through red lights and the driver won’t be punished. But the rest of us can’t! God has also put red lights in our lives to slow us down and to make us stop and think. He wants us to think about our sins and their punishment. You know, some people drive through red lights and don’t get stopped by the police - they “get away” with it. But we can never “get away” with our sins. Every one of them will be punished. God gives you a choice about the punishment for your sins. You can accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour by believing that He suffered the punishment for your sins on the cross, and you will go free. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)). Or you can refuse His loving offer of freedom and bear the punishment for your sins in hell forever. “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)).
The choice isn’t very hard to make, is it? Why not settle the matter right now while you’re stopped at this red light by accepting the Lord Jesus as your own Saviour and be free!
ML-01/28/1996