Delays, delays, delays! That was what Abigail was experiencing on a day when she had planned so much. First, there was a friend who needed help with her arts-and-crafts project that she was hoping to sell. This friend insisted she stay for tea. It was late when she finally left to catch her bus. However, just as she was nearing the bus stop, the bus pulled away! She had to wait for the next one.
Once she was on the bus, she found a seat and sorted over the tracts she had brought with her. Mark 16:1515And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15) says, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” and this was exactly what Abigail was doing with the gospel tracts she always carried with her. She picked one out for the young bus driver and went up front to give it to him. The tract was called, “Saved From a Christless Grave!”
“You are always giving me one of these religious papers,” the driver growled as he stuffed it into his pocket. “I suppose you think I’m a very wicked person!” Then he told her he was off work that afternoon and was going to have the time of his life! Abigail quietly prayed for his soul and continued on her way, feeling very sad for this young man.
The next day Abigail took the same bus at the same time, but the young driver she gave the tract to the day before wasn’t driving the bus that day. She asked the new driver about him. He told her that the young driver had been instantly killed the day before. It happened as he jumped off his bus to catch another bus. He was thrown down by the momentum of his jump and was crushed under the wheels of the oncoming bus.
Abigail was in shock, not only about the accident, but about the bus driver’s soul! After what he had said to her the day before, she didn’t have much hope that he had accepted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour in the few hours before he was killed.
Later, another bus driver told her that he wasn’t instantly killed. He said, “I was with him when he died, and he said to me, ‘You tell the lady who rides my bus that I went to be with Christ in heaven and not to a Christless grave.’ ”
As you read this story, I want you to know that someone has been praying for you, that you might see that you are a sinner and need to be saved from your sins so that you also will be saved from a Christless grave. The Lord Jesus loves you very much and died on Calvary’s cross for you. He is offering you the gift of forgiveness of your sins. He says to you, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
Don’t put off this serious matter until tomorrow. God warns, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:11Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. (Proverbs 27:1)). The bus driver had only a few hours left to his life. He came so very close to ending his life in a Christless grave, but he took a few serious, important moments to decide to accept God’s gift. If your life should be snuffed out in the next few hours, would you land in a Christless grave that promises a tragic, Christless eternity with the devil and his angels? You can change that outcome right now by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour.
ML-04/17/2005