Joe was a soft-hearted fellow and easily led by bad company. The result was that he was often in the tavern and the next day ashamed to hear that his wife and little girl had been standing at the door, waiting to lead him home.
“That wasn’t what you said you would do on the night of your marriage, Joe, when you promised to love and cherish her who had left her father’s comfortable home to become your wife,” a voice seemed to whisper in his ear. Yet somehow, poor fellow, he repeated the same thing week after week, and things were going from bad to worse.
It matters little how sorry a man might be for going deep into sin; he cannot throw off its yoke when he likes. Sin is his master and it needs a stronger arm than his own to break its power and deliver him from its grasp.
But thank God there is One who can save from sin’s guilt and power. His name is Jesus—and He is both willing and able to save. The only open question is, dear reader—Are you willing to be saved?
A number of the boats with their crews in the town where Joe lived had arranged to go to a distant coast for three months fishing. Several of the fishermen were earnest Christians, and as soon as they arrived at their destination, they began to read the Word of God, and to commend themselves and their mates to His care before they went out to their night’s work on the deep sea.
Joe had never seen anything like that before, and before a week had passed he was quite anxious lest he should miss the “Bible Reading.” It was a pleasant sight to see these crews of converted fishermen, beaming with joy, leave the harbor on a beautiful summer evening, singing hymns of praise and speaking about their “happy home in eternity.” Joe could see that these men had the best of it, infinitely better than what he had, and in his heart there was a longing to have what they enjoyed.
It was on a midsummer night at sea that the great crisis came in Joe’s life. He was in his boat with four comrades, three of whom were Christians. Alongside was another boat whose crew were all on the Lord’s side. They were telling one after another the story of their conversion, and Joe, at the helm, sat listening attentively. One told of how far he had been in sin, a drunkard, and of how he had so ill-treated his poor wife. “But,” said he, “Christ took me as I am.”
Joe’s interest was thoroughly aroused, and unconsciously he said aloud, “Would He take me too, Jim?”
“Yes, Joe, just as you are, sitting there at the helm,” replied Jim. And a number of voices chimed in—“Yes, trust Him just as you are, Joe.”
Joe stood up, and lifting his cap from his head, as if he realized he stood in the presence of God, he said aloud, “Here I am, Lord Jesus—a poor sinner deserving nothing but hellfire, but I come just as I am to Thee, and to Thy blood that cleanses from all sin.”
A song of praise on the deep at that midnight hour burst from these happy sailors, and Joe joined in, although through quickly-falling tears.
A week later they returned to their homes, and Joe’s first words to his wife, who met him on the shore with little Mary in her arms were, “God has sent you a new man, Jessie—saved on the deep sea by the grace of God.”
For years Joe lived to testify to his new Master, and many a weary soul was led to Christ by his words.
ML-01/28/1979