Margaret was the daughter of wealthy parents, who sought to bring her up for the world. When she grew older she was sent away to college, where she later learned to know the Lord Jesus as her own Saviour. She accepted Him, and decided to devote her life to Him.
Margaret wrote home to her father, telling him of her new-found joy in Christ. He was unhappy about it, and wrote her immediately, saying, “Margaret, get on the next train; come home, and we shall talk this foolishness over.”
She obeyed, and returned home. As her father met her, he said, “I did not send you away to get religion. That is all right for some people, but not for a child in your stratum of life. I sent you to college to learn how to take your place in society and to carry on the family name. You will have to get this notion out of your head. If by tomorrow morning you have not decided to give up your ideas, you may pack your suitcase and leave this home. I am not going to have a religious fanatic around my household.”
Margaret went up to her room with a heavy heart, and prayed that the Lord would help her in this trial. It meant a great deal to leave home; it would mean loss of love, culture, and money. She decided that Christ was far better to her than any, earthly gain and ambition, and, the next morning, after packing her suitcase, she started for the front door. Seeing no one about, she stepped over to the piano, and as her fingers ran over the keys the Lord brought this hymn to her mind:
Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence, my all shalt be:
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought and hoped and
known;
Yet how rich is my condition,
God and Heaven are still my own!
She arose, and with tears streaming down her face, turned toward the door.
Before she could open it, her father stepped out from behind the curtain where he had been listening to her play, and said: “Wait! I did not know that Jesus Christ meant as much to you as that. I did not know that you were willing to give up father, mother, and home just for Jesus. Margaret, forgive me, for if such a great love can take hold of your heart, there must be something in it. Sit down here and tell me how I can be a Christian.” The result was that her father who had long despised the Lord Jesus, received Him as his Saviour.
Perhaps some of you, like Margaret, have parents, relatives or friends who do not know the Lord Jesus. If you are a Christian, how wonderful it would be if you could tell them of Jesus and His love. He longs to have boys and girls, men and women come to Him, for when He washes our sins in His precious blood, He makes them whiter than snow. If you haven’t come to the Lord Jesus to be saved, come now, and He will save you and make you His child.
ML 12/09/1956