MY CONVERSION is a wonderful story of grace. The one the Lord used to carry the arrow of conviction home to my heart was a little girl, one of my own pupils.
We were having our usual Bible lesson on Sunday afternoon. The subject was, “The Brazen Serpent.” After the chapter had been read, I went on to explain it as best I could. I noticed that the girls seemed more interested than usual. I told them that the serpent of brass was a type of our uplifted Saviour, as He Himself said to Nicodemus.
Imagine my surprise when one of the girls asked, “Will we be saved all at once by looking to Jesus on the cross, just as the Israelites looked at the serpent, Miss Kain?” I felt rather confused at this kind of a question. I had not been used to anything of this sort before, and I never thought much about it, in that patter-of-fact way. Before I had time to collect my thoughts and give an answer, my little pupil went on to say, “My sister Laura says we will, and that she had looked and been saved.”
A few days later, I had an opportunity to speak to Laura in the playground. She was a bright, happy girl, open-minded and free. I told her what her sister had said, and asked if it were true.
“Yes,” replied Laura, “I have been converted for several years, and I am happy to know that my sins are forgiven, and that Christ Jesus is mine.” I asked her how she knew.
She said: “I looked away from myself to Jesus; I believed He died for me, and that by His death I had life. That was all.”
I was dumb. Never before had I heard an argument like that. It simply shut me up to one of two things: either I must confess myself an unbeliever and a rejecter of Christ, or, if a believer on Him, then a possessor of everlasting life. The light of heaven dawned upon me through that simple word, and I believe it was then that I passed from death to life.
Dear Laura, it was not long after, she left us for that bright home above. I know she is with Jesus, and that I shall meet here there. Dear reader friend, will you?
LIKE a little wandering lamb,
Lost upon the hills I am;
Like a shepherd Jesus stands,
Holding out His blessed hands.
“Come,” He says, “Come back to Me;
Little lamb I died for thee;
I will take thee to My home,
Little lamb, I pray thee, come.
“Thou would’st like to have thy way,
On the lonely hills to stray,
Where the hungry lion hides,
Where the fiery serpent glides.
“I would have thee lie at rest,
Little lamb, upon My breast;
Thou shalt be My sweet delight
All the day and all the night.
“Though thou hast a wayward will,
Little lamb, I love thee still;
Come to Me and be forgiven,
I will bear thee safe to heaven.”
ML-12/11/1966