An old woman lay dying. She knew she had but a brief time to live, and by her bedside sat a little girl reading the Scripture to her. She was reading the third chapter of John and had reached verse 16, when the old woman’s attention was arrested by the word “whosoever.”
She stopped the child and asked her what “whosoever” meant. She did not know. Then said the woman, “Run as quickly as you can and ask the first person you meet.”
The girl put down the book and ran to inquire the meaning of the word “whosoever.” She stopped the first person she met and said,
“If you please, sir, can you tell me the meaning of the word ‘whosoever?’”
“O, yes, my little girl,” replied the gentleman, “it just means ‘anybody that likes.’” She thanked him and ran back to the old woman.
As soon as she reached the bedside, the poor dying creature raised her eyes and said,
“O, have you found out yet?”
“Yes,” replied the child, “I met a gentleman who said it just meant ‘anybody that likes.’”
“Thank God,” she replied, as she put her tired hands together and looked up to heaven,
“Thank God! Then I like, I like.”
Soon after this she breathed her last, and without doubt passed away to be with Him who had been set before her as the Object of faith.
What a simple thing is faith. It just takes God at His word without question or quibble. It is this simple belief of what He tells us of His Son having died in our room and stead, that honors God and saves the soul.
May the reader thus believe God, and reap in richest blessing the fruit of that mighty work of Calvary. Remember, it is unto all—yes, ‘anybody that likes’ may take to himself and enjoy its unspeakable benefits now and forever.
ML 01/04/1931