She looked like an average, respectable middle-aged woman just like so many others but for the lines in her face and the shadow that never left her eyes. At the end of the gospel service a Christian worker spoke to her and, seeing the trouble in her face, asked, "Can I help you?"
"Oh, I am haunted—haunted!" gasped the woman. "But I cannot talk here!"
A private spot was found, and again the Christian asked, "Can I help you?"
"No one can help me! I murdered a man! Fourteen years ago I drove a knife into a man's throat. He was found with his hand on the knife, and everyone thought that he had committed suicide. No one ever suspected me, but I was miserable.
"After two years I came to America to see if I could find peace here. First I went to New York, and then came to Chicago. I have been here for twelve years, but have not found peace. I often go to the lake and stand on the pier and look down into the dark water. I would have jumped in if I had not been afraid of what lies beyond death. What help is there for me?"
Can you think of a more terrible state of mind? To be haunted—and haunted for fourteen years—by the memory of a murder and an accusing conscience? It must have been a veritable hell upon earth.
"Of course, I am a sinner," you say. "We are all sinners. But I have never committed such an awful sin as murder."
But who told you that one sin is more awful in God's sight than another? Men may speak of "little sins," but God does not. No sin is trivial or excusable in His eyes. The smallest sin is enough to shut out a man from His presence forever. In His sight there is no difference between you, who have done nothing grossly and outrageously wrong, and the poor woman who drove the knife into the throat of a fellow-creature.
Do you doubt the truth of this? Then open your Bible and see for yourself. Turn to Rom. 3:22, 2322Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:22‑23): "There is no difference: for all have sinned." All stand on common ground before God. If you were as much awake as you should be to the seriousness of sin, your conscience would be as burdened as was that of the murderess. You would be haunted by the knowledge of your guilt.
But there is another sight to look upon besides sin in all its ugliness and blackness. There is JESUS, who willingly became the Sin-bearer upon the cross and endured the bitter punishment in order that we might be forgiven.
Only by believing in Jesus, and the results of His atoning work, can the accusing conscience be set at rest. Only through Him did the poor, haunted woman find peace—only through Him can you be saved!