0UR little story took place many years ago in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The waving fields of golden grain were falling under scythes of the busy harvesters on Knockhills farm, for this was long before the days of harvesting machines.
Bill was hard at work along with many other men. But there was something different about Bill — he was always singing. Apparently he wasn't very musical, for no one could recognize the tune, and it was even difficult to make out the words. But whatever it was, it was sung with a mighty smile, for Bill seemed happy from morning till night. At first farmer Maconnachie thought Bill was a little queer, and some of the other hired men were of the same opinion. But as the days went by, and Bill's singing continued, they decided that he was not at all "weak-minded," but just a lot happier than the rest of them. The words he seemed to like the best, and sang most frequently, were these:
"I feel like singing all the time;
My tears are wiped away.
For Jesus is a Friend of mine;
I'll serve Him every day."
One day, farmer Maconnachie passed close to Bill as he worked and sang, and he quietly said,
"Your religion seems to make you happy, Bill. Sunday is the dullest day in the week for me, and I find no joy in religion at all."
Bill smiled and simply answered, "It's grand to have Jesus. He saves and He satisfies."
That strange remark stuck with the farmer, for although he was a religious man, and was always at church on Sundays, yet he had never been born again. In fact he had no notion that he needed to be, for he thought he was just as good as his neighbors, perhaps a little better than most of them.
One day, he invited Bill in to have dinner with the family, and when the meal was over, he handed the big family Bible to him, and asked him to read a chapter. Bill gladly read a few verses, and then began to speak of the wonderful love of the Lord Jesus, and of His precious blood that cleanses from all sin. He told how he had been brought up in the North of Ireland, and of the time of his conversion to God. It seems that although he had been taught "religion" from his earliest days, and had "joined the church" along with the rest of the family, he had not found out that he was really lost until he was 16 years old. Then by faith he came as a guilty sinner to the feet of the Lord Jesus, and was cleansed by that precious blood.
The farmer and his family listened eagerly, and two of the children were immediately made aware of their own need of the Saviour, and in a few days they brightly confessed Him as their own. It was much harder for Mr. Maconnachie himself, for he still felt that all his church-going and religion were of some value in fitting him for heaven. But before long, he too realized that he was lost and that there was no salvation to be found apart from the Lord Jesus. Gladly he also accepted Christ and joined heartily in Bill's songs of praise.
Has the reader of this paper ever found out that he was lost? Bill found it out when he was 16 years old. Perhaps you have not yet reached that age, but whatever your age may be, you are lost right now unless the Lord Jesus Christ has saved your soul. It is true that all the church-going and all the religion in all the world cannot fit you for heaven. You must come to the Lord Jesus Christ as a lost guilty sinner, and His own precious blood can and will wash away those sins, and make you fit for heaven. Then, thank God, you will find that the Lord Jesus saves and satisfies.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." Titus 3:5.
Messages of the Love of God 6/15/1958