The man had a happy look, and I wondered if he could be a Christian. Then he asked me, “Are you a Christian?” It is exciting to be asked such a question.
When Mr. Waslim asked me this, I was thrilled and said, “Yes, I am, and are you a Christian too?”
“Yes,” he said, and told me this story.
He had gone to church every week. The service didn’t change and he didn’t change. His heart was the same, and he still had all his sins. Realizing this, he did something that was very good. He got a Bible and began reading it.
Mr. Waslim knew he was a sinner, but he found in the Bible that Jesus is the Saviour of sinners and that He loved him. He accepted the Lord Jesus and was cleansed from his sins, just as Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31) says: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
His life started to change right away. He stopped drinking alcohol and gave up using illegal drugs. I wish you could have seen the joy in his face as he told me how the Lord Jesus “cleaned the dirty sins” from his life. Now he wants to learn more about his Saviour.
Has Jesus changed your life? What about your “dirty sins” -those evil thoughts, bad words and naughty things that you have done? Are they still on your record?
Oh, you may have been brought up in a Christian home. That is a good thing, and that may have kept you from some of the more gross things people do. But what about disobeying your parents? And do you respect them? Lies and cheating are sins too. Are those things still a part of your life? Or have you put your trust in the Lord Jesus and had your sins washed away in His precious blood?
If you say you believe on Him, is there any change in your life? Does your mother notice any change? Have your school friends noticed anything different about your life?
The Apostle Paul’s life was changed a great deal after he accepted Christ as his Saviour. He was not an apostle then, of course. He had been very religious, but tells us he was really “a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious.” He hated the name of Jesus. After he became a true believer, God used him to preach and teach “those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 28:3131Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. (Acts 28:31). He also warns any that “love not the Lord Jesus Christ” that he or she will be cursed when Jesus comes. (1 Corinthians 16:2222If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (1 Corinthians 16:22).)
Mr. Waslim likes to sing this hymn:
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus,
Since I found in Him a Friend so strong and true;
I would tell you how He changed my life completely,
He did something that no other friend could do.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me,
O how much He cared for me.
In what way has your life been changed?
ML-06/13/1993