Jim, the strong-armed blacksmith, had been respectably and religiously trained, but he had fallen into drinking habits, and squandered his savings. He was fast becoming a slave of his habit, when he awoke one morning with severe pains in his heart. Alarmed by his feelings he hurried to the doctor, who told him to go home and rest quietly and to take the medicine he gave him.
“If I’ve got to die I may as well be at my work as lying idle on my bed,” thought Jim, and so, in spite of the doctor’s orders, he went to work at his forge.
There amid the sound of the roaring fire and the ringing anvil he tried to forget his danger, but still the question pressed itself upon him, “If you should die, what then?”
Laboring the harder, he tried to drown the solemn thought, but all in vain. It challenged his conscience again and again. Work was impossible. Burdened with his sin, the fear of death, and that which comes after it — the judgment — filled his soul, and he became very miserable.
Regaining strength, for a year he sought rest in various ways, but found none. There was no satisfaction in drink and in his usual pursuits. One day he was asked to go to hear the glad tidings of the gospel proclaimed, and gladly he accepted the invitation.
The sweet message of God’s free and full salvation for sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ was simply told. Poor Jim saw that he was guilty before God, lost and ruined. Owning his condition, he was able to cast himself there and then, just as he was, upon Christ, and to trust in His precious blood, which cleanseth from all sin. Joy and gladness at once took the place of his fears and misery, and Jim patiently bore witness to the saving grace of God, As I close let me ask you, “If YOU should die, what then?”
You may say, “I am young and healthy and not likely to die yet.” That possibly is the case. But face the question fairly now. Would you go to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven, or would you go to hell? Take the Lord Jesus as your Saviour now, as Jim the blacksmith did, and then you will be ready, no matter what comes.
ML 02/19/1961