WHEN I was converted to God, I thought I had only to tell my friends and neighbors of the priceless treasure I had found. to induce them to take refuge in Jesus also. But how astonished I was, when I found that they either listened to me with indifferent, wearied faces, or began to count up their good works, and speak of their piety! To accept a free undeserved gift, is humbling to the pride of the human heart. To receive all freely, and be unable to give anything in return for it, is exceptionally hard for man to think of.
“I do the best I can,” said one of my friends. “I pray every day and try to leave off evil and do good,” said another.
The truth that salvation and life are God’s gifts to the sinner, and that only faith is needed to receive them, seemed to them impossible to be understood.
One day at the request of a friend, I visited a poor woman who lived in a thickly populated part of the city. Her husband had forsaken her. For a long time she had been lame from rheumatism and was obliged to keep her bed. Her four children were still too young to be able to earn anything. Already she owed several months’ rent to the landlord, and he had threatened to put her out on the street, and sell her little stock of household goods. Thus her position was the saddest imaginable.
It was a bitter cold morning when I went to visit this poor woman. The sharp wind cut my face. After a few inquiries, I found the miserable dwelling. At my knock, a pale looking, ragged child opened the door. As I stepped into the room, I saw the sick woman on her miserable bed. She stared at me with a look so questioningly, that it went to my heart. Ah, she thought she saw in me the bailiff, who had come to put into execution, the hard-hearted threat of the landlord.
How great, then, was her astonishment when I sat down with a friendly greeting and began to ask her about her circumstances. These were indeed sad enough—no fire on the hearth, no bread
in the cupboard, not a cent in the house and added to these, the prospect of being driven out into the cold of winter with her children in an hour or two. In such a condition, a sympathetic, kind word is of double value. But the joy of this poor woman reached its highest point when I informed her that I had come, in order to pay the backstanding rent, and to provide food for her and her children. Great tears of joy rolled down her sunken cheeks, and she pressed my hand warmly again and again. Words she could not find; but her tears and thankful looks spoke louder than words could. The children stood round the bed and listened with open mouths, and how eagerly the oldest one ran to fetch bread and butter, when I handed him a piece of money. The poor children had not seen good bread and butter for a long time. In a few minutes he was back with the desired food, and it was a delight to see how happy they were over it.
Now, you see, my reader, that it was not difficult for this woman to accept what was offered to her in love. She was in the deepest need and therefore grasped thankfully the gift which was held out to her. She could do nothing for herself and therefore only too glad when another would not only pay her debt but make provision for herself and her children.
What a lesson for you. As a sinner before God, you are as helpless as that poor woman, though you may not think so. You may do your best, but you cannot pay the debt incurred. You can do nothing for yourself, because you are bankrupt before God. But He will freely clear the debt, and give provision for the rest of your way if you but received His gift. The gift of God is eternal life. He is waiting, ready to give. May He open your eyes, that you may see how needy you are, and make you to be willing to accept His wondrous gift.
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
ML 11/17/1912