Lucy really needed a friend. She was not the only one, because we are all the same. Everyone needs a friend.
Lucy lived in one room in a tenement house over 100 years ago. She was old and thin with gray hair and was often cold. That’s how her visitor found her one chilly November day in London. Her fireplace didn’t have a fire. She had a worn shawl around her shoulders, and barely a crust of bread to eat.
“Do you not have a friend?” asked the visitor in pity.
The old lady’s rocking chair creaked slowly. It seemed that this was a new thought to her, and it took some searching of her memory.
I ask you, “Do you have a friend when things are down to rock bottom?” There are organizations to help, as far as they can go. But there are times when they can’t be reached, or perhaps you don’t qualify, and angry shouting does not bring results. Do you have a dependable friend you can count on anytime?
There is one and only one such Friend. “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:88Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8)), and as a sinner you qualify for His salvation. Will you come as a poor sinner and accept His loving offer to be your Saviour and Friend?
Lucy came up with an answer which astonished her visitor.
“There’s Queen Victoria,” she said. And after a pause she explained, “When she was a young queen, she came down with the flu when she was visiting in our village, and I nursed her until she was better. Perhaps she will remember.”
The visitor took out her note pad and wrote down the details of what Lucy had told her. Then she wrote a letter to the Queen.
The Queen’s answer was very kind. Yes, she remembered Lucy’s devoted care very well. She included a generous amount of money for Lucy’s immediate needs and a promise of aid as long as Lucy needed it.
Will the Lord Jesus answer you like that? Oh, far better than that! He will answer, not according to your need, but more than that, according to His wonderful riches! He will not answer because of what you have done for Him, but rather because of His love and what He has done for you. The Saviour with nail-pierced hands will never refuse you. It cost Him His own life to save sinners like you and me, and He will never, never forget. Don’t try to think of something you have done for Him, but claim Him because of what He has done for you. He will not refuse you now, but in eternity He will refuse forever those who have never come to Him with their need.
When Lucy received her gift from the Queen, she spent no time in her rocking chair thinking about it. She went at once to a hat store where the surprised salesgirl suggested that she might find something suitable in the basement where everything was less expensive. But that was not what Lucy had in mind. Her purchase was a very large and fashionable straw hat with a wonderful array of fluttering feathers. She wore it proudly with a long, bright hat pin.
Her thin, faded shawl was replaced by a gorgeous, colorful shawl woven in India. And when a pair of beautiful horses brought her carriage to her tenement door, a footman dressed in expensive clothing and leather boots stepped down to help her into the carriage, in front of her admiring neighbors. Lucy was certainly not ashamed of her new status in society.
And surely we need not be ashamed of belonging to Jesus, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Some of His gifts to us are ours now, but we cannot expect our neighbors to admire them. We follow a rejected and crucified Saviour who has told us often that it will not be an easy road when we tell others that He is our Saviour and Friend. But if our riches are not in dollars, pounds, pesos or nira, we now may have His peace and His joy and the wisdom of His book, the Bible, and all that is included in the love of His heart. And we also have an inheritance waiting in heaven for us. It is impossible to want more than the eternity He has promised.
When Lucy died all her finery was left behind, and if she had no Saviour she will spend a Christless eternity in hell. But the Saviour, who gave His life for me, gives His best gifts forever. Do you want Him? Do you want Him as your Lord and Saviour now? Come to Him now; take His gift, and let your neighbors see that you have a wonderful Saviour and Friend who loves you forever and ever.
ML-12/22/1996