The head waiter in a hotel had a beautiful gold watch, and one day when he was showing it to some of his friends, they asked him how he came to possess it.
“That is indeed a serious story,” replied the waiter. “I was working in a hotel in the mountains, and it so happened that one day I waited upon a very sick man in his room.
“One day he felt his end approaching and asked that a pastor might be sent for to come and visit him. But the nearest pastor lived a long way off, and he happened to be away from home.
" ‘Is there then no one around,’ he asked, ‘who can give a word of comfort to a dying man?’ I knew no one.
" ‘Waiter,’ he said, and seized my hand, ‘Say a good word to me.’
“The perspiration rose on my forehead, but suddenly a good idea occurred to me. I hurried to my room and took from the bottom of my trunk my dear mother’s Bible, which had laid there for years neglected and forgotten.
“Her favorite texts were all marked. So I read them one after another to the poor man, until I came to the verse, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’
“This verse he asked me to read again and again.
‘Should not perish, but have everlasting life,’ he repeated over and over.
“Then he grasped my hand and said, ‘Waiter, you have brought peace to my heart again through that verse, so that I am no longer afraid and can die. Take this watch as a remembrance, and keep it during your life. Then may you have a blessed eternity by trusting in my Saviour. John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) is for you as well as for me, for it says, whosoever.’
“Now friends, do you wonder that I value my watch?”
Have you a Bible that once bonged to your mother or father? Is it hidden away and forgotten? Bring it out and read its life-giving words. Or is it on your shelf among other books, often seen perhaps, but neglected till now. Remember that you are far more responsible than those who have no Bible, and have never heard the gospel message.
Take it down from the shelf-perhaps there are passages marked years ago by the loved hand that is now still, and you have never even troubled to look at them. Will you not read them now?
His great gift of His only begotten Son, and everlasting life to those who believe in Him. It has brought blessing to thousands, why not you?
ML-06/11/1978