Harry was a young man in the army. He had been brought up in a Christian family. His father and mother loved the Lord Jesus, and both had accepted Him as their Saviour and had taught their children about Jesus. But Harry had never accepted Jesus as his own Saviour. He knew how to be saved from his sins; he knew all about what Jesus had done on the cross; he had even memorized many verses in the Bible. But he had never taken that step of admitting that he was a sinner and accepting the Lord Jesus for himself.
Now Harry was in Korea during wartime. Some of his buddies were killed almost beside him, but Harry still did not seem to be concerned about settling the “heaven or hell” question, even though he could be the next to lose his life. If anything, the war seemed to make him hard-hearted. “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not” (Job 33:1414For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. (Job 33:14)).
One night while Harry and his squad were on patrol, they were ambushed by the enemy. Harry was wounded and several others were killed. He was taken prisoner by the Communists.
For many days he lay in a North Korean army hospital where he had lots of time to think. Still, his close call with death and God’s mercy in sparing his life did not seem to soften his heart.
One day a young doctor in that Communist hospital came to Harry and asked him many questions. To Harry’s amazement he discovered that the young Korean doctor was a Christian! The doctor had to be very careful not to say too much about God, or he would be punished by the Communists. It was the beginning of Harry’s “waking up.” He thought to himself, Here I am, brought up in a Christian family, having gone to Sunday school, having read the Bible, and still I am not a Christian. Yet now I am being urged to become one by a North Korean army doctor in Communist territory!
For the first time in his life, Harry was ashamed before God, when he thought of how long he had ignored the Saviour who loved him. The Lord Jesus wanted to bless Harry. He had followed Harry all the way to Communist North Korea to bring him that eternal salvation that only Christ can give. When Harry thought of that love and the prayers that he knew were going up for him every day, it broke his heart. He surrendered to God and thankfully accepted the Lord Jesus as his own Saviour.
If you are like Harry and have not yet surrendered to Christ Jesus who “loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)), why not give up your fight and let Him wash away your sins and be your Saviour too? “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13)). “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)).
ML-04/11/1999