It was a Friday on a September long weekend, and I was leaving my office slightly after hours. As I pulled out, I noticed survey equipment set up on the boulevard.
This was a very complex and very expensive mounted GPS instrument with an antennae and a recording station set into a foam lined hard case. My first thought was that some slothful employee had gone home and left this equipment out to be stolen.
I drove several blocks around my office and saw no evidence of any surveyors. I wasn’t about to leave it out for the weekend. The only reasonable thing to do was to pack it up and return it on Tuesday morning to the office of the company identified on the equipment.
I carefully disconnected the wires and dismantled the equipment, fitting it carefully into the case. I remember thinking good thoughts about myself as I drove home. “Just think of the money I’m saving this company – they will be happy to hear my story on Tuesday.”
When I got home, I used it as a teaching moment for my children to reinforce acting in an upright manner. All the while, I was looking forward to Tuesday morning where there would be some back patting and true appreciation for my honesty and integrity.
Tuesday arrived and I proudly walked through the company office door with case and tripod in hand. One man asked, “What have you got there?”
I began to tell the story emphasizing my good deed.
“So, you’re the guy” another interrupted, “there are a number of surveyors who would like to get their hands on you.”
Apparently, there was a time sensitive survey project scheduled for the long weekend and several survey crews were out in various locations, some a mile or two away. In my hand was the base station to which all the surveyors had been connected. At 6pm on Friday, when I was being so “helpful”, the signal died, and the project had to be abandoned.
All I can say is that my feelings about myself on the drive to that office were very different than my feelings on my drive away!
This reminds me of a verse in the Bible that describes the shock of those thinking some form of good works would merit eternal life. In Matthew 7:23, Jesus says to these people, “I never knew you; depart from me”. They found out, when it was too late, that their good efforts didn’t count. Many assume that on judgment day God will pull out a ‘good deeds’ scale and weigh out the good against the bad. Maybe there is something we could do which would tip the scale in our favour?
The Bible is clear that when it comes to salvation - all the doing has been done. Christ’s death on the cross paid the debt of sin for all mankind. We can’t tip the scale in our favour! Salvation is “the gift of God” (Romans 6:23b). We can never earn salvation by being good enough. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).
The fact is, we all deserve Hell (that is eternal separation from God), but “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). It’s not too late. Accept God’s gift of salvation today!
Ron and Nancy Burley
Photo credit: benkrut
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