CHILDREN WANTED

We need, nowadays, to be very careful what we read on placards lest there be some evil hidden or otherwise, in them. However, one good thing I remember reading on a railway station many years ago was a large notice in just four short words of one syllable each and in capital letters. It read like this – 'You Must Have God'. My first thought on seeing it was, of course, that all people 'have' God, whether they like it or not. He is the One in whom we live and with whom we have to do. But I could understand that the desire of those who had the placard made was that persons reading it might have the knowledge of God as Saviour, made known in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again to make us acceptable to Him.

The jailor at Philippi saw a 'placard' – actually his own conscience – and said in his anxiety "Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved? " You will remember how he came to believe on the Lord Jesus for salvation. Many hundreds of years before this the Israelites in the wilderness had to look for mercy to a serpent of brass lifted up so that all could see. Many anxious sinners were healed by looking eagerly upon it. The Lord Jesus was lifted up in this way to die on the cross that we who look up to Him in faith may receive life eternal.

On further thought about the placard on the railway platform I wished that I could put up beside it a similar one. It would have the same four short words but would read, 'God Must Have You'. It is a wonderful part of the Glad Tidings, and perhaps a more important one, that He who is our Creator should look for some response to Himself and should have an affectionate answer in giving His beloved Son for us. Jesus, when here on earth, was very interested in children. When some such were sent away by the disciples He was "indignant" and said, "suffer little children, and do not hinder them from coming to me; for the kingdom of the heavens is of such". Have you come to Him in your spirit and your prayers?

J.C.Evershed