Dear Kathleen,
For months now I have wanted to write to you, but I’ve put it off time and time again. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and you were even “littler.” Daddy said to me, “Why don’t you give little Kathleen a nickel or a dime sometime, since she is your namesake?” But I never did. I guess it was because I was afraid you might laugh at me and say I thought I was better than you because I had dimes to give out! But tonight I have been reading an article that compels me to write, and I can’t put it off any longer. This is what the article said:
“Suppose I saw a blind man unknowingly approach the brink of a high cliff, and I just stood by without any effort to warn and save him from certain death. Would I not be guilty of his death? The death of one person, which another might have prevented, is a terrible thing, but how much worse not to warn another of eternal judgment after death. Does not God hold me responsible to warn another to flee from the coming wrath? If failure to warn others to save them from physical harm is an awful thing, what is my guilt if I neglect to warn someone of how to be saved from eternal suffering?”
Dear Kathleen, I do not know what your inmost thoughts are regarding eternity. But I pray that you will think seriously now of God’s love for you, which He has made known to you by giving the Lord Jesus Christ to die for you. Consider your need of Him in your heart and in your life. You need Him now and for eternity.
When I think that someone I love may not spend eternity with Jesus Christ in heaven, but may spend it apart from Him in the blackness of darkness forever, that thought is overpowering. You know the gospel well, Kathleen, so won’t you consider it and accept the One who died for you at once?
Until now, I have thought many times how the Lord, like Daddy, might say to me, “Why didn’t you present the way of salvation to Kathleen, especially since she is your namesake?” And with shame I would have to reply that it was simply because I was afraid she might laugh at me.
Now it’s up to you, Kathleen dear, to simply accept the gift that is being offered to you—eternal life through the Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Your loving sister-in-law,
Kathleen
Kathleen was a teenager when she received this letter. It so affected her that she accepted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour, and she has lived for Him ever since.