A congregation in Lewisville, Texas recently gave Bibles to all the children entering the first grade. These rising first-graders were called to the front of the building with their parents and were presented with a Bible by the minister, Jeff Jenkins.

Jeff related some of the responses from these first graders:

• One of our parents sent me a picture of her little girl in bed the night before her first day of school and she is holding her Bible.

• Another student came up to me at the next church service and said, “Mr. Jeff, look, I brought my new Bible!”

• Another parent sent me the following story about her daughter: “Avery was so excited tonight when she received her Bible at church. She quickly noticed it had a map in the back. She looked up at me and said, ‘Mommy, look, it has a map; now I will never be lost.’”

Jeff smiled and said to himself, “You are right… this Bible is your map so you will never be lost.”

The Bible, God’s Word, is our map. It reveals where we are, where we are headed, and what our desired destination should be. The Bible reveals that we are lost in sin, and that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 3.23; 6.23). But the Bible also reveals that God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we might have forgiveness of our sins and have access to the way to eternal life in heaven (John 3.16). Jesus is that way; in fact, He is the only way (John 14.6)!

The Bible gives us the following directions to reach our desired destination (heaven), by placing your faith and trust in Jesus (John 8.24), by repenting of past sin (Acts 17.30), by confessing Jesus before others (Rom. 10.9-10), and by being baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2.38; 22.16).

Then we must continue to follow “Heaven’s Road Map” for the rest of our lives, being careful not to “veer off course” by the works of darkness (1 John 1.5-7). We must also continue to follow that narrow and difficult way which leads to life everlasting and be faith, even to death (Matt. 7.13-14; Rev. 2.10)!

The psalmist declared, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psa. 119.105).

Yes, Avery, God has given us a MAP (His Word) so that we will never be lost – if we will read and heed His instructions!

[-Adapted, D. Sargent; BTW]