Paul was an active boy of eight and got along well with his classmates and the neighborhood children. He liked playing ball and hide-and-seek in the yard with his older sister and friends. He especially liked going on camping trips with his family.
Paul started going to Sunday school when he was quite small. There he heard about the Lord Jesus who loved him so much that He left His Father’s side in heaven to come down into this world to die on the cross for sinners. Paul enjoyed singing the songs in Sunday school, and his favorite was “Oh Happy Day.” When he sang the refrain, he would sing it loudly and happily:
Happy day! Happy day!
When Jesus washed my sins away.
He taught me how to watch and pray,
And live rejoicing every day.
Happy day! Happy day!
When Jesus washed my sins away.
Anyone hearing him sing the song so enthusiastically would think that this young boy had already experienced that happy day when his sins had been washed away in the blood of Jesus.
One morning while his father was still in the bedroom, his mother came into the bedroom holding Paul’s hand. “Tell Daddy what you just told me,” she said.
With his face shining, Paul said, “Last night I woke up and I heard the wind howling outside, and it seemed to tell me I was a guilty sinner. I got out of bed and got down on my knees and asked Jesus to wash my sins away. I got back into bed, smiling all over.”
With tears in his eyes, Paul’s father took Paul into his arms and thanked the Lord Jesus for saving his little boy.
Paul wanted to tell Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, an older couple who lived far away, that he was now saved - his sins were all washed away in the blood of Jesus. This older couple sometimes came to visit the family, so Paul decided he was going to write them a letter to tell them Jesus had washed his sins away. He knew they would be happy to hear such good news.
Mr. Wilson’s reply to Paul’s letter came back as a story he wrote, and here is part of Mr. Wilson’s story:
Two Letters
“Would you like to hear about two letters I received last week? One of them came from a boy who is about eight years old and goes to Sunday school every week, unless he is sick. His name is Paul.
“Well, the other day I had a letter from Paul which made me very happy. He wrote and said, ‘I was saved the other night. Now I know the Lord is my Saviour.’ Wasn’t that good news to tell? I am sure Paul could tell others how to be saved. He could say, ‘Just believe on the Lord Jesus as I did - believe that He died on the cross and suffered for sinners so their sins could be put away. He died for me.’
“The other letter I received was one that told about a man who, instead of being eight years old, was nearly nine times that old -he was about seventy. The letter was from his sister and she said that he had been very, very sick. But one day he was free from pain and his mind was quite clear for a while. During that little time, he told his sister, ‘I have accepted the Lord and I do believe in Him - I love the Lord Jesus.’
“Our dear, young friend Paul may have the joy of living to please the Lord Jesus the rest of his life, but this man cannot have much longer to live. He is saved and knows it, but he has missed much by not coming to the Lord Jesus a long time ago.”
Mr. Wilson’s story about the two people who had gotten saved from their sins about the same time, a young person and an old person, made many people happy, and they thanked and praised the Lord Jesus to know two more would be in heaven one day. We hope that all you boys and girls reading this paper accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour while you are young. “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:11Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; (Ecclesiastes 12:1)). But if anyone reading this happens to be older and is still unsaved, do not wait any longer! Accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour right now before it is too late for you. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)).
ML-09/28/2003