BEN HAD only one eye. He made his living making idols for peo-
ple who worshiped Buddha. A missionary came along one day and told Ben a story about a wonderful Man named Jesus, who opened the eyes of a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. He also gave Ben a Bible in his own language.
Ben was thinking about that story as he lay there on his straw mat, when his little son came in and picking up the Bible began to read some of the passages in it. He read: "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not."
Ben looked at the idols he made and thought, "These idols are blind, deaf and dumb — all of them. They can't help any one."
Ben had just one eye, but he had a far deeper problem. He had soul trouble. His sins burdened him. He longed for peace.
The next morning he went to the missionary and asked, "Can Christ really save me? Can He give peace to my troubled soul?"
"Indeed He can," answered the missionary, and he told Ben of how the Lord Jesus died on the cross to put our sins away. God will forgive all who trust in Jesus for their salvation.
The two got on their knees and Ben prayed. He had often prayed before at the idol shrine but now he prayed to the Lord Jesus and he was in earnest. He asked Him to save Him and take his guilt away. The Saviour heard his simple honest prayer and gave Ben such a sense of His love and peace that he knew he was forgiven. He became a new creature in Christ Jesus. Of Ben it could be said that he "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven." (1 Thess. 1:9, 109For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9‑10).)
Messages of the Love of God 6/29/1975