Julia was thirteen years old, and had spent most of her life in the for-away land of Greece. Her father and mother were very wealthy, and they wanted their only daughter to go with them to England so that she could go to school there. Julia was delighted with the thought of a boat trip to a different country, as any thirteen-year-old girl would be.
After they landed in England, and had spent some time visiting the places that they had heard about, and read about in their daughter’s school books, Julia was sent away to school.
One Saturday Julia’s teacher took her for a visit to the sea-shore, and there, as they were walking along, they heard the sound of happy voices singing. There on the beach they saw a group of boys and girls all singing gospel hymns, and soon a man began to speak to them about the Lord Jesus. Julia’s parents had never told her about Jesus for they did not believe in Him. But as she stood and listened to the story of God’s love in sending Jesus to die for sinners, and of Jesus’ shameful death on the cross, she wept. She was so sorry when the little meeting was over, and she walked very quietly away by her teacher’s side.
“Please tell me more about Jesus,” she said at last.
I am sorry to say that although Julia’s teacher was very “religious” and always called herself a Christian, she found that she couldn’t tell her dear pupil any more about Jesus. The girl’s heart had been so touched with the sweet story that she did not rest until she found someone who really loved Jesus and who would tell her all she wanted to know. She asked if her sins could be forgiven. She asked if Jesus loved Greek girls. She wanted to know if she could take Jesus as her Saviour right now.
What would you say to Julia’s questions? I hope you would be able to turn to the Word of God and show her that God loved boys and girls of every country, that Jesus had died to forgive the sins of any who will come to Him, and that the best time to come and accept Him as your Saviour is right now. When Julia heard the good news from God’s own Word, she accepted the Lord Jesus as her own Saviour right then and there.
She just couldn’t keep the good news to herself, but hurried to tell her father and mother all about it. She was surprised that they had heard it all before, but didn’t tell her! But when they saw how very real it all was to their daughter, they saw for the first time that Jesus wanted to save them from their sins, too. Julia wasn’t satisfied with telling the story of Jesus’ love to her parents. She wanted to tell the girls at school, and then she began to think of her friends hack in Greece. When her school days were over, she urged her parents to take her back to Greece, although she loved England. There in her own homeland, she visited the poor and the sick, and read to them from the Bible and told them the story she loved so well—the story of the love of Jesus in dying for sinners, Perhaps the reader of this story has often heard about Jesus, but have you yet learned your need of Him? Has His precious blood cleansed away your guilty sins?
ML 01/21/1951