IS IT NOTHING TO YOU

One day during the 1930's, a man named John Griffin who controlled a railway drawbridge over the Mississippi river, took his son to work with him. After putting the massive bridge up, Griffin was eating lunch when suddenly he heard the whistle of the Memphis Express roaring towards the crossing. Leaping from the observation deck he ran to throw the control switch. Glancing down, his heart stopped! His son had fallen into the gears, trapping his leg in the cogs.

Desperately he tried to devise a rescue plan. But there was no time. His son was down there but there were 400 passengers on the train! Griffin knew what he had to do. Burying his face in his arm, he pushed the master switch just in time to lower the bridge into place as the train thundered across.

Then, raising his head he looked into the passing windows with tear-filled eyes. There were businessmen casually reading the newspaper, ladies sipping coffee and children eating ice cream. Nobody even looked at the control room, or glanced down at the great gearbox. In agony Griffin cried out, 'I sacrificed my son for you people. Don't you care?' But as the train rushed by nobody heard the anguished father's words.

As we consider the cross where God sacrificed His Son for each of us, He's asking, ' Is It Nothing To You, All You Who Pass By?' (Lamentations 1 v12) Our question then becomes: 'What then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ? (Matthew 27 v22)

Excerpt from The Word For Today - free issues are available for the UK & Ireland www.ucb.co.uk