At the close of an evening service in which I had endeavored to make known God's way of salvation, clearly and plainly, I went to the door of the church to greet the friends as they passed out. Standing by the door was a gentleman holding a lad of about twelve years of age by the hand. It was his son and he was in tears.
The father approached me, saying, "Doctor, Jimmie would like to be saved. Will you talk with him?"
I knew the little lad well, and knew that he had been raised in a home where the Bible was read and where prayer was offered to God daily. I said to the little fellow: "Would you like the Lord Jesus to save you tonight?"
"Yes, I would," he replied, "but I do not know how to come to Jesus; I cannot find Him."
Taking his hand, I led him to the front of the church in order to escape the noise of the friends who were visiting around the door. Up in the choir-loft we could be alone. There I said to him, "Jimmie, will you kneel with me and thank the Lord Jesus for everything that you can thank Him for?"
"Yes," he said, "I will do that."
"Very well, Jimmie, if you will do that, I will tell you some additional things to be thankful for."
We then knelt together to pray. I prayed first and thanked the Saviour for His wonderful work at Calvary, and for His Word of truth. I asked the Holy Spirit to reveal the Lord Jesus to the heart of this dear boy, and to open his understanding so that he would know the value and the virtue of the precious blood of Christ.
When I had ceased, little Jimmie prayed, saying, "Lord Jesus, I thank Thee for coming to this earth to save me. I thank Thee for dying on the cross for my sins. I thank Thee for coming to be my Saviour."
There was a silence after this. I was bowed at the chair with my eyes closed, and waited quite a while for Jimmie to continue, but he did not. When the silence became embarrassing, I looked around to see what Jimmie was doing, and found he was kneeling upright on his knees and smiling at me.
"Why did you stop praying?" I asked.
"Because," he said, "I just found out that Jesus really did it."
The joy of the Lord filled his face, the tears had stopped, and his smile told of the inward peace.
While he was thanking the Saviour, the Spirit revealed the truth of the statements he had heard from the Scriptures. He had known what the Bible said about Christ and His work at the cross, but he had not believed that it was for himself. He had not personally applied it to his own soul. He had not realized that the Lord Jesus came to save him, as though there was no one else to save.
Jimmie was a new boy. He hurried back to his father with a buoyant step and a radiant spirit to tell him that Jesus really did it. He is now a grown lad, carrying his Bible and seeking to live a life pleasing to the One who bought him with His precious blood.
How often people make the mistake of believing the facts without applying them to their own hearts! To acknowledge the truth of the Gospel is not sufficient; it must be applied to the soul and accepted personally in order to have value. The fact that Christ is a wonderful Saviour is a blessed truth. Each one, however, must come to Him personally and accept Him as his own personal Lord and Saviour (John 1:12). To believe that a doctor is able to prescribe the proper remedy is only to acknowledge the truth of the facts. To engage the doctor to handle your own case, and to take charge of you and your disease, brings the application of the facts to your own life. Do not miss heaven by missing the Saviour!
How often we find in Christian homes a belief of the facts and an orthodox faith in the Bible without the personal acceptance of Jesus Christ and without a personal washing in the blood of the Lamb. These are absolutely essential.
From The Romance of a Doctor's Visits by Walter L. Wilson, 1935.
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