It was in a prayer meeting in Boston when a man rose to his feet and told this story. Said he: “Until a short time ago I was a careless and unrepentant sinner. I will tell you how it came about that I’m now saved and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“One Sunday evening I was sitting on the sofa in the parlor. My wife had gone out, and no one was with me but my little six-year-old niece, Shirley, who was visiting us at that time. For a while she sat by the table amusing herself looking at pictures. After a bit she got tired of them, and climbing up on the sofa, she began putting her arms around me in her childlike way.
" ‘Uncle Bill,’ she said, putting her little hand in mine, ‘tell me something about Jesus. Mommy always does Sunday nights.’
“I was struck by her request and quite embarrassed. I evaded it and began talking of something else. But the little girl would not be put off. Again and again she came back to the same request: ‘Uncle Bill, tell me something about Jesus.’
“As I did not reply, she said at last, opening her wide blue eyes, ‘Why, you know about Jesus, don’t you?’
“That question awakened thoughts and feelings in me I had never had before. I am afraid I had to disappoint my little niece that evening. But that night I could not sleep; the dear child’s wondering words, ‘you know about Jesus, don’t you?’ haunted me all through the long silent hours. I felt I did not know about Jesus; I had not wished to know about Him, and a sense of my ignorance and guilt lay heavily upon my soul.
“I was distressed for days. I read my Bible with an inquiring, anxious heart till at length I found the blessed Saviour, and could say in humility and faith, ‘now I not only know about Jesus, but I know Him, that precious Saviour, about whom little Shirley so eagerly wished to hear.”
Oh, the power of the name of Jesus—uttered by his little niece in her sweet childlike simplicity, applied by the Spirit of God to a hardened conscience! It wrought a mighty change in the life of Uncle Bill. It charmed his soul and captured his heart.
Has the name of Jesus charmed your soul, dear reader? Or, do you still spurn that love and travel with the crowd down the broad road that leads to destruction.
ML-07/24/1977