Charles, the Sunday school teacher, brought a special little book to Sunday school. It was a photo album, but it was a different kind of album because all the people in the pictures had gone to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. On the cover of the album was a little poem:
“Teach me to live that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.”
Let me explain what the poem means: We aren’t afraid to go to bed at night. Most of us look forward to going to bed. We are tired and need the sleep to refresh us for the next day. Those of us who have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Saviour aren’t afraid to die. We look forward to the time when we will be in heaven with the Lord Jesus. All the people pictured in the photo album had died and are now happily with the Lord Jesus.
After Charles explained about the people in the photo album, he asked the children what the memory verse was for that Sunday. One of the boys repeated the verse: “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)).
Then Charles said, “I want some of you to come whisper in my ear how old you think you should be when you die.”
Three boys came up to whisper their answers. When no one else wanted to come up, Charles repeated their answers out loud. One boy said that you should be 90 years old. Another said that you could be any age. The third one said, “You die when the Lord calls you.”
Charles opened the album and showed a picture of a baby. Then he showed a picture of a four-year-old child and then a picture of a young woman. None of them were anywhere near 90 years old.
Then Charles said, “Anyone who wants to die, please raise your hand.” None of the children raised their hands. Charles asked, “Do you know when you are going to die?” The children all agreed that they couldn’t tell. He told them that the only time we can be sure of having is right now.
Charles asked, “When you were born, were your names written in the book of life?” The children shook their heads “no.”
“The people in this album don’t have physical life like you and I have, but they have a life now with the Lord Jesus that death cannot touch. How can we have that kind of life?”
Several hands shot up: “You have to ask the Lord Jesus to wash away your sins,” said one child. “You need to have Him living in your heart,” said another.
“But what about the people who don’t believe, who don’t have the Son of God in their hearts? Where do they go?” And one of the children answered very solemnly, “To hell.”
Then Charles asked, “After you die, can you change the place where you are?” Again the children shook their heads “no.”
“After you have died, there is no way of changing your condition. For all eternity you will be either in heaven or in hell without any chance whatsoever of making a change. Imagine being in the lake of fire forever and ever when you could have had your name written in God’s book of life. All you had to do was simply believe in the Lord Jesus and accept the forgiveness of your sins that He is offering you today.”
Will you do that today and have your name written in God’s book of life?
ML-01/16/2005