Many years ago, John Duncan, a farmer's son, was determined to get ahead and not settle down to a farmer's life. How he got his education for the medical profession would be hard to say, but we do know that he was willing to do any kind of honest work to help pay his expenses.
In the city where he earned his medical degree, he was not ashamed to live in an attic and to subsist on the most simple fare.
By a rigid economy, ambition, and determination, he did become a doctor and continued in his studies and practice until he became a well-known surgeon.
Every year the doctor took his vacation in his old country home. He was never happier than when relaxing in the place of his birth. There, the friends of his early days would sometimes consult him about their ailments, and the great surgeon made a point of serving them without charge when on his vacation.
One day a neighbor lady consulted him about her sick daughter. With his usual sense of dedication, he became interested in the case. When he found that an extensive and critical operation was necessary, he performed it most successfully.
The daughter was on the road to recovery when the mother asked him what his fee was. He replied that he would not depart from his usual custom when on vacation in his native area, and that he was pleased to use his skill for any who needed it.
The mother did not like to accept his kindness. Both her pride and her gratitude hindered her. So she insisted that he must let her pay something! As she pressed her point, the doctor finally said, "Madam, if you want to pay, my usual fee for this operation is one thousand dollars. You must take your choice. It is all or nothing. Which shall it be?"
Needless to say, the woman swallowed her pride and accepted the celebrated surgeon's skill as a free gift.
This "all or nothing" attitude is just as applicable in spiritual matters. Most thinking people today recognize that they are sinners before God. They know that death has to be faced, and death without Christ is a terrible thing. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23). And death does not end it all, for we read again, "after this the judgment." Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27).
Yet how few will submit to the humbling fact that as sinners they cannot save themselves, nor can they even help to save themselves. If saved, one must gladly acknowledge that:
"Jesus did it all;
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain—
He washed it white as snow."
So, then, it must be "all or nothing." Which shall it be? Oh, let it be ALL, and then give Him, in grateful worship, YOUR ALL.
"Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).