“No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:13-16 NLT)
I was a young paperboy at the age of nine. Did I want to be a paperboy? No! But my father was the station manager for the local newspaper in my section of town, at the time. So, I had no choice. There was an easy part and a hard part of being a paperboy. Delivering the paper was the easy part. Collecting the money from customers was the hard part. I know some who are reading this message can identify with what I just said, and in your mind, you are saying, “I’ve been on both sides, the easy part and the hard part. Perhaps not as a paperboy, but I have been there.’”
One day while collecting on a street named Clifton, in a block just north of 30th Street, the houses on both sides of the street were on little inclines. Back then the inclines looked higher than they were in actuality. Well, after collecting for the weekly paper delivery on one side of Clifton Street, I ran down the customer’s yard, and aided by the incline, and this thing called inertia, I was moving at a pretty good speed. I neglected to look down the street, neither to the left or to the right. I just ran across the street to get to the other side, running like a sprinter nearing the finish line. Suddenly I hear all this noise, tires are screeching on the concrete road, and the adults on the other side of the street, including my father, were screaming at me with their faces looking frightful. Seeing their faces, my running speed was at the top of my ability. I looked straight ahead and sense a need for urgency. This whole incident took seconds, but even though 66 years have passed, I can still picture it like it happened yesterday. Long story of a short incident made short, I made it safely to the other side, safely. But that’s not the end of the story, not yet. My father grabbed me, placed his hands on both my shoulders tightly, gripped me tightly, gathered my body close to him, and he gazed at me with a stern expression. He looked straight into my eyes and said, “Don’t ever, ever, ever, do that again!” (I took that to mean “never,” never, “never!”) But with the insistent command from my father, there came some instructions in three simple, invaluable words, “Look and live!’ That was advice to be applied throughout life, as I advanced in years.
Years later, remembering the day of the incident above, I was paying attention at Sunday School and learned about looking to Jesus. Even today, when I hear the church congregation singing the words of the song below, I still can hear my father’s voice expressing his concern and compassion for me. Compassion, because he was trying to save me from danger; save my life.
Read the words below, taken from the song I just referred to above. It was composed by William Ogden in 1887. Like my father’s advice, the composer’s words, found in this classic hymn are still applicable today. They still provide good advice. Since it is good advice, let me pass it on to you. Read the lyrics below! Perhaps they will help you evangelize someone in danger of not experiencing eternal life, or perchance they will encourage you to always look to Jesus so that you can experience life, and life more abundantly. Look and live! Be blessed!
“I’ve a message from the Lord, Hallelujah!
The message unto you I’ll give.
’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah!
It is only that you “look and live.”
“Look and live,” my brother (and sister), live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah!
It is only that you “look and live.”
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King