I used to be a Communist. It was Sunday afternoon, and I had been to the races the day before. The horses I had bet on won, so I had done pretty well.
Presently a police car drove up, and I wondered what they wanted me for.
“That you, Charlie?”
“Yes, What’s up?”
Slowly the officer broke the news to me of the death of my little girl in a bus accident. It was a bolt from the blue, and I was stunned. At once my heart hardened with intense hatred against God at this strange providence. She had been to me the very light of my eyes, and now came this dark black pall over my soul.
Looking back now, I can see an overruling Hand in all these strange circumstances of seeming disaster, for they drove me to think of my own need, of the reality of eternity, and of meeting a holy God in my sins. The awful hollowness and infidelity of what I was going on with began to arrest me, and make me yearn for something real.
A friend suggested I go and hear a very outspoken preacher, a converted lieutenant colonel. We heard him declare boldly of the utter ruin of man at best, of his utter failure in every age. He likewise showed the “wondrous cross” as the one and only way of pardon and peace God’s provision for a perishing world, and all that without a prayer, without a tear, without a single effort on the part of man, for God had done everything for man’s salvation in the Person of His Son, as proved by the resurrection.
“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 3:1616For 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).) All that was required of man was to take God at His word and enter into the good of the finished work of Christ.
This was going too far for me. I was not ready to condemn myself as a lost sinner, yet I realized that I was not right with God. But one thing I learned, as I sat under the preaching of the gospel, was this: If ever I were to see my little girl again, my sins must be forgiven in time, else there would be eternal separation. This was an unbearable thought to me.
This wakened me up at last and drove me to the feet of the Saviour. I discussed it with my wife, who had known Christ as her Saviour for some time, and while musing over these things before the fire, I determined that nothing would hinder me any longer from entering into the joy of His salvation.
In the quietness of my heart I yielded to Christ in simple faith. I put His promise to the test: “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).) It had been ringing in my heart. I came and found it true. Will you?
ML-08/06/1978