ON A FINE Sunday afternoon a neglected, poorly dressed boy walked in a back street of a large city. Suddenly his eye was attracted to a printed card lying on the pavement. He picked it up and looked at it admiringly. In the middle of the card, which had a beautifully colored border, golden letters glittered in the sunlight. He wished he knew what those letters said, but alas, he could not read for he had not gone to school. Putting the card in his pocket, he said to himself, “Tonight I’ll ask old Margaret to read it to me. I’ll bet it’s something good or else they wouldn’t have made it so pretty.”
With these thoughts in mind, he went on his way and spent the day playing with other boys. When evening came on, he started toward home. Remembering the card he went up a dark stairway to an opened door where he called out, “Mother Margaret, are you at home?”
“Yes, Jack, come in,” cried the voice of the old woman.
“O, mother Margaret, I wish you could tell me what is written here in gold letters.”
“I will tell you gladly,” she answered. Then she read, slowly, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16: 31.”
“What does that mean?” Jack inquired.
“I’m afraid I can’t explain it to you, dear boy. I don’t understand much about it.”
“But who is the Lord Jesus Christ?”
“I have heard it said that He is the Son of God and that He lives in heaven.”
“I wish I knew what that means, ‘Thou shalt be saved.’ From what must we be saved?”
“I think I can tell you that, Jack. When I was a little girl I went to Sunday School. I have forgotten nearly everything I learned there, but I remember they often said that wicked people, after they die, would be thrown into a large fire, called hell. We must be saved from that.”
“O! I’d like to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Jack, “so that I might believe on Him. I don’t want to be thrown into a large fire.”
When Jack went to bed that night, he could not sleep. He kept thinking of the words on the card, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
The following day he again visited Margaret and asked if she knew of anyone who could tell him more of Jesus Christ. She told him of a man she knew, a Mr. Benson, and pointed out his house. It was some time bore Jack had courage to go to the door of the fine home but at last he did.
Mr. Benson asked Jack what he wanted. Taking the card from his pocket he asked if he would explain what it meant. Seeing the text that was printed there, the kind man invited Jack inside where they could sit down and talk. Then he quietly said, “My boy, God has made everything — the world, the people in it, you and me, too. God is holy and He hates sin. Every wrong thing we do is sin. You cannot hide from God the wrong things you have done and He knows even what you are thinking.
“But God is love and He sent His own Son into the world. The Son of God is called Jesus. He came from heaven, down to earth almost 2,000 years ago, to tell men that God is love. He came, too, to die for sinners, to bear the punishment that they had deserved for their sins.
“He died a very cruel death, Jack. Wicked men nailed His hands and feet to a cross, and left Him hanging there until He died. On the cross He bore the punishment that we deserved for our sins. God laid our sins on Him. After His death, He was buried in a grave. But God raised Him from among the dead and now Jesus lives again in heaven.
“Jesus is full of love in spite of what men did to Him. He is ready to receive you. He will forgive you all your sins, so that you can go to heaven. You need not be sent to hell, the lake of fire. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’ "
Jack was thrilled to hear what Mr. Benson told him and he believed what God says in the Bible. He took Jesus as His own Saviour and when he left Mr. Benson’s house his faced beamed with happiness. He had found a Friend who would never fail or forsake him.
ML-03/24/1963