In China there are thousands of people who do not know the true God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead they worship idols. One of the main idols is a huge one named Buddha.
There was a rich Chinese merchant who employed a little, bent old Chinese lady named Mrs. Yellow to come to his home. Mrs. Yellow’s job was to keep repeating the name of Buddha over and over as often as possible. In that way, the merchant thought, he was pleasing Buddha, and it was a lot easier to pay someone else to do it than to do it himself. This was Mrs. Yellow’s only way of earning money, so hour by hour she repeated Buddha’s name, counting off beads as she did so she could remember how many times she had said it.
Mrs. Yellow would often attend the gospel meetings held by some Christians. She liked to listen to Bible stories but never had taken the Lord Jesus as her own precious Saviour.
As the days went by, Mrs. Yellow found that she thought more and more of the Lord Jesus of whom she was hearing at the gospel meetings, and repeated Buddha’s name less often. Even so, it seemed too difficult to leave the habit of counting beads and saying “Buddha,” so she went on with her job. At last, however, the name of Jesus was too strong for either Mrs. Yellow or the idol Buddha! She realized that it was wrong to keep Buddha in her mind all the time, but far worse to keep Jesus out of her life. So one day she let go of her beads and said, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” The Name which is above every name — the Name of the Son of God — brought to her a new happiness. She knew from that moment that God had forgiven her sins through Christ’s finished work and that she was free!
Quietly, but joyfully, Mrs. Yellow went to her employer and told him that she was now a follower of the Lord Jesus so she could no longer say Buddha’s name for him.
“You are very foolish,” sneered the rich Chinese merchant; “you will starve to death without my money, and what good will Jesus’ Name do then? Can it help you?”
“Yes, He can,” replied he old lady. “My God has promised to supply all my needs through that Name. But if I die, I will but be with Him the sooner!”
Old Mrs. Yellow did not starve for the Lord Jesus took care of her. She lived many more years to tell others of the precious Saviour she had found, before she went to be with Him forever.
Perhaps you do not worship idols of wood and stone like people in some countries do — but you may be one of those who have never taken the Lord Jesus as your very own Saviour. We urge you to trust Him today and you will find true peace and happiness like the Chinese lady in our story did. If you reject Him you will be lost forever.
ML 12/30/1956