I have found a treasure, and I have come to tell you where you may find it, too.”
Thelma looked up astonished. She had been spending the evening alone, reading a novel. Her best friend, Lois, suddenly had entered the room and burst out with this surprising news. “A treasure! Whatever do you mean, Lois?”
“Thelma, my dear friend, I have just now come from a gospel meeting, and I have taken Jesus Christ as my Saviour, and I am so happy that I just had to come right here to tell you what a treasure it is to me.” Then began the thrilling story of the saving of a soul.
Lois and Thelma were school friends, and had many good times together. But deep beneath all the fun and good times, there were occasions when they had serious talks, and especially so after one of their classmates, Allan Peterson, had suddenly taken ill and died. Both Lois and Thelma went regularly to a place of worship, and they had been taught in their Sunday school to do good and try hard in the hope of reaching heaven.
One of the girls in their class, Helen Foster, seemed very different. She didn’t seem to find her pleasures in the same amusements as the rest of the girls, and yet she always seemed so happy. She had often told them that she was a “Christian,” and that she belonged to Jesus—but they told her that they were all Christians. Just this very day, Helen had quietly asked Lois to come to a gospel meeting with her. There wasn’t anything very special to do that evening, so Lois went along. The message was just what was needed for her heart. She found out from the Word of God that she was a guilty sinner, and that no amount of trying could ever make her fit for God’s presence.
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” Titus 3:55Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5). She found the whole burden of her sins had been borne by the Lord Jesus and that a full and free salvation was offered to her, by faith in that Saviour. With a deep sense of her of guilt, she bowed her head and accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.
The peace of God filled her soul, and when the service was over, she joyfully confessed Christ to her happy school friend, Helen, and then she hurried to tell Thelma the good news too.
The end of the story is better still, Thelma tried to appear quite indifferent to all this news. She even opened her novel again and tried to pretend that she was reading, but really she could not see for tears. Lois stood beside her, praying silently that God would save her friend, and so He did. In a few minutes the novel slipped to the floor and Thelma looked up at her friend.
“Lois, you and I have had our good times together, but we knew that there was something missing and I believe you have found it. I know deep down in my own heart that I am a sinner too, and I am not ready to meet God. Will you kneel with me and we shall pray together about it?”
Reverently the two girls knelt down, and first Lois thanked God for the wondrous gift of Jesus, and then prayed for the salvation of her friend. There was a minute or two of silence, and then Thelma quietly owned herself to be a guilty sinner before God, and claimed the blood of Jesus Christ in all its wondrous value to the saving of her soul.
Dear young reader, has this wondrous event ever taken place in your life? You may have a fine reputation as a Sunday school pupil or even as a Sunday school teacher, but unless you have bowed as a guilty sinner before God, mid accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you are lost. There is a wondrous treasure awaiting you; if you will only come,
ML 03/29/1953