Nothing!
This story is about nothing—nothing at all. That is what you brought into the world with you when you were born. Just nothing…zero.
There was a smart young man in Italy who, after finishing his engineering degree, started an IT business and became phenomenally successful. He added a great deal of money to his first zero and became a rich man with many zeros after the number one, an expensive car, and much more. He also had in his car one little New Testament that the doorman at the luxury hotel handed him with the car keys. He was leaving a successful meeting where he got a very profitable business contract. So, as he got in his car, he stuffed the Bible in his glove compartment because he did not know what to do with it.
Think of that! ¬The eternal Word of God, showing the way to everlasting joy with the answer to all the sins and sorrows of life and death…and he did not know what to do with it! He knew how to handle money and how to make more, how to get a beautiful house, and how to meet important people, but he did not know God’s simple way of salvation. How poor can a rich man be?
Then came Covid-19. He contracted the virus, though he did not know it, he just felt extremely sick and drove himself to the emergency room of the nearest hospital. As he was getting out of his car, he reached in the glove compartment to get his wallet and ID, and his fingers came up with that little New Testament. As he was waiting to be admitted, he opened it for the first time, and the page had that verse about “nothing”: “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7). I felt as if I had been struck by lightning!” he said later. He realized that if he died, all his possessions would be reduced to zero. Nothing would be left for eternity; not a single penny of all his riches would still be there after he died.
But after death there is something that would still be his. His sins! These you cannot get rid of after death. They must be gotten rid of before death or they are yours forever, through the endless ages of eternity. Will you please, at this moment, picture this awful truth—standing before God in your sins! However, the awful debt of my sins has been paid by the One who loves me and died for me on Calvary. His precious blood cleanses from all sin now, and this cleansing is forever. After I am gone, everything I own will be left behind for someone else. But Jesus is mine forever. I cannot lose Him because He cannot lose me. When God looks at me, He sees Jesus, now and forever. What about You? The rich man recovered after a few rough weeks at the intensive care unit in the hospital. He got home and began reading the Bible during quarantine. He asked the Lord Jesus to forgive his sins and accepted God’s free gift of salvation by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you also receive this loving Savior as your own?
“The wages of sin is death,” but the good news is, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2).
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
