What the Newspaper Tells Us

Does your family get a newspaper each day?

Probably you do, unless your city is so small it doesn’t print one. Or maybe your father and mother would rather not get one because of the filth in it.

But I noticed something about the newspaper! It tells us something that we don’t want to think about.

We all know that the newspaper tells stories of accidents, drownings, sadness, and joy. Certainly that tells us that we must some day face death ourselves. But there is something else it tells us, too. Let me explain.

One day I was reading the last page of our newspaper. First I read the “Births” column. Most of the time there are two people listed together there. Both the father and the mother have been made happy in receiving a new baby.

Then I read the “Marriages.” A number of people have decided to get married. There will be two people listed together in that column too. Both the man and the woman have a part in becoming husband and wife.

But then I read the last column, “Deaths.” And then it struck me: There were not two names listed together anymore! Each person in this column was listed by himself.

Of course, we all know that, don’t we? Of course we know that we must die alone. But did it ever really strike us? A man and a woman get married and a mother and a father have a baby. But when we die we must meet God alone.

Do you do many things alone? Some things are fun to do all by ourselves, aren’t they? Sometimes it’s fun to go in the bedroom and read alone. Often we have to do school work alone.

But some things are scary to do when we’re all alone.

What would you do if you were going into the hospital? Wouldn’t you like to have your mother or father with you? You wouldn’t want to face that big, strange place alone! And what if you were going to meet your president, or prime minister, or a king? Wouldn’t you want someone to go with you?

Now just think... when we die, we must meet God alone. Alone! No one to help us. No one to speak for us.

Do you know why we must meet God alone? Because each person is to blame for his own sins. We alone did them.

Some day my name will be listed in the “Deaths” column. Some day your name will be there. And each one will be listed alone. Each one of us must face death alone. Then we must face God alone.

Am I ready to meet a holy God? Are you ready? Let us pray that God will give us a new heart before the time comes to meet Him. This will only be possible because of the suffering and death of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. He came to die for His people. Then we will not stand alone.

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27-28).

— sw

“I GUESS I KNOW A THING OR TWO!”

“My dear boy,” said a father to his son, “you are in bad company. The lads with whom you associate indulge in bad habits. They drink, smoke, swear, gamble, and engage in lewd practices. They are not safe company for you. I beg you to quit their society.”

“You needn’t be afraid for me, father” replied the boy, laughing. “I guess I know a thing or two. I know how far to go and when to stop.”

The lad left his father’s house... laughing at the “old man’s notions.”

A few years later that lad — that young man — stood at the bar of court, before a jury which had just brought in a verdict of guilty against him for some crime in which he had been connected. Before he was sentenced, he addressed the court, and among other things, said, “My downward course began in my disobedience to my parents. I thought I knew as much as they did and spurned my father’s advice about evil companions; but as soon as I turned my back on my home, temptation came upon me like a pack of hyenas, and hurried me into ruin.”

Mark that confession, you who are beginning to be wiser than your parents. Mark it and learn that disobedience is the first step on the road to ruin. Mark it — and do not take that first step. You will likely be sorry all of your life if you do.

— Youth’s Living Ideals

SHAKING ON THE ROCK

A shipwrecked sailor managed to swim to a rock. It was a wonderful relief to him to lie there in safety. There he lay throughout the night, cold, the waves swirling round the rock.

When rescued, one of the questions put to him was, “But didn’t you shake?”

“Yes,” was the reply, “but the rock didn’t!”

A sinner, through fear, may shake even on the Rock of Ages; but he cannot be shaken off it, and the Rock itself will never shake.

—The Friendly Companion

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