“Wow! Look at that cool A-frame house,” I exclaimed. “Isn’t it neat with all those pine trees around it.”
“Yeah, it’s almost hidden from the road!” agreed my sister Maria.
One glimpse of a neat house surrounded by trees was enough to make us curious to see it again. The next time Dad drove my two sisters and me to music lessons, we asked him to pull into the long drive-way so we could see it up close.
After we had finished admiring the house, Dad started backing out of the driveway. He started, that is, but didn’t finish until much later that night.
The driveway had a curve that our van didn’t follow, unfortunately. One wheel dropped down over the edge into thick, clay-like mud that was on either side of the driveway, and we got stuck.
It sure wasn’t hard for the van to drop those two inches off the driveway into the goopy mess. It’s the same way with sin. It’s so much easier to fall into sin than to get back out. To back into the mud took only a few seconds, but to get back out . . . that took an hour and a half! And we commit sins so easily, but there is no way we can get rid of them by ourselves.
Dad drove the van backward and forward trying to get up onto the driveway, but each time the wheel just worked deeper into the muck. Then Dad backed the van completely off the edge, thinking that if it were at a right angle to the driveway it might be easier to get back up. But our van positively refused to move in that mud! We were really stuck, but we didn’t want to admit it. We thought that if we worked a little harder we could still get the van out.
Often people who are still in their sins don’t want to admit that they can’t get rid of them. They need to realize that no amount of work on their part will remove even one sin. Only the Lord Jesus can do that. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
We finally had to admit we needed help if we were ever going to get out of there. Dad went up to the door of the house to see if someone there could help us. The man who answered the door told Dad that he couldn’t do anything to help. How different it is with the Lord Jesus. He is waiting to help us. He says in the Bible, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)).
We still thought that we could get out if we tried a little harder, so my sisters and I pushed while Dad tried driving forward. But it didn’t work. We didn’t really have much strength to push the van, since I’m only 15 and Michelle and Maria are both younger. Then we came up with another idea - boards, gravel and newspaper. Why didn’t we think of that before? With these materials under the tires we did move a little, but not enough to get us up onto the driveway.
Suddenly, through the semi-darkness two headlights shone on us. It was a police car! As it pulled up next to us I felt like hiding, but I didn’t. Do you want to know why I wanted to hide? It’s because I didn’t like being in the light of the police car’s headlights. Since we weren’t doing anything wrong, I quickly realized the policeman was going to help us - not send us to jail.
The policeman told us that he would call a tow truck for us. “It will be your money, sir, not ours,” he informed us.
There is a cost for your salvation, and it was far more expensive than the tow truck bill that Dad had to pay. Salvation cost more than you could pay in your whole lifetime - from now till you are an old person. So what can you do? Since you cannot pay for your salvation, God sent His Son to pay the cost for you. He died on Calvary’s cross and shed His blood to cleanse you from all sin. If you will accept Him as your very own Saviour, the cost of your salvation has been fully paid. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)).
The tow truck came quickly to pull us out. And guess what? Even the tow truck had a hard time getting us out of that goopy mud. But finally the van was up on the driveway, and we were glad to be on firm ground once more. The Lord Jesus has paid the full cost and finished the work of salvation for you. Will you come to Him and receive it?
ML-10/29/1995