After lovingly watching her grandson grow from a babe in arms to a high school graduate, Grandmother wanted to give him the very best gift. She chose one that would be able to help him in every detail of his life and be a source of untold joy and happiness if it were used properly. When graduation day arrived, she presented her dear grandson with a real nice Bible. Inside the Bible she had placed several treasured papers which she prayed would be a blessing to his soul.

The boy got a job after graduation and kept busy. He was quite industrious and well-liked. However, he never used his grandmother's gift to him. It was still in his dresser drawer where he had put it the night of graduation. Every time he saw the new Bible, he remembered the disappointment he had felt when he received it. He had hoped for something else, like money, or at least an interesting book. His grandmother was so old fashioned, but he knew she loved him dearly. But why did she give him a Bible? He still was puzzled about that.

What the graduate didn't understand is what many don't comprehend. There is so much more to life than what we see around us in the world. In fact, that isn't really life at all as we have it revealed in the Bible. The grandmother wanted to share what she had learned of these things so that he might have eternal life and riches and happiness. The Bible is the key that unlocks the secrets of these things. Everything we see around us is going to pass away, "but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever" (1 John 2:17). "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son (Jesus Christ). He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:11,12).

The boy's mother always said to the grandmother that he was a good boy and didn't get into any trouble, to which grandmother in faithfulness replied that being good will never save anyone—it's not good enough. "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). "But he's a good worker," mother would say, and again grandmother would respond, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom God hath sent" (Ephesians 2:8,9; John 6:29).

Maybe you are like this boy. You studied hard in school, you work and help out around the house and you don't party or run around. As far as you are concerned, you are doing the best you can. But whether or not you have someone like this caring grandmother to tell you, the most important part of true life is missing. You need the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). Take that Bible out of the dresser drawer and read it, for therein all the treasures of life are found.

Maybe the reader is a believer and knows that the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth from all sin (1 John 1:7) has been applied to his heart. Yet, his Bible is collecting dust there beside his bed. If so, dear friend, and graduates everywhere, listen to the divine counsel given to a young man just embarking on his life: "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law [Word of God] … This book shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Joshua 1:7,8)

—T.D.J.