Eddie could not run and jump like other boys. When but a child he had fallen down on a stone stairway and was left a cripple for life. It was very sad to see the pale-faced boy sitting by the door or window on warm days, unable to move unless someone helped him. Many of the school children pitied Eddie and often spoke a cheering word as they passed his door.
Not far from Eddie’s home there was a building where a Sunday school was held every Sunday afternoon. Sitting in his chair by the door, Eddie could hear the children singing, and on summer afternoons when the weather was warm and the windows were open, he could hear the words that were spoken and the hymns that were sung. He had a quick ear for music, and was soon able to sing several of the hymns. When the teachers learned that Eddie was a listener, the window next to his house was always left open, and a kind girl gave him a hymn book for his own, so that he could sing when the others sang. A favorite hymn of Eddie’s was: “There is life in a look at the Crucified One.”
It may have been the words of that hymn, or what he heard through the open window, that God used to show dear Eddie his need of a Saviour. At any rate, Eddie did learn his need and was most anxious to be saved. Some of the teachers visited him and spoke to him simply and lovingly of Jesus, and of His power to save, but still Eddie was without peace. He thought like many that he must do something, and feel different, before he could know that Jesus was his Saviour.
One afternoon the children were gathered for Sunday school as usual, and Eddie’s favorite hymn had been given out to be sung. However, before beginning, the teacher made a few remarks, especially on that verse: We are healed by His stripes;
Would’st thou add to the Word?
And He is our righteousness made,
The best robe of heaven He bids thee put on,
Oh, could’st thou be better arrayed?
He told the children that the best robe of heaven was put on everyone who trusted in Jesus, and that for His sake, God counted them righteous and accepted them. He explained how that Adam and Eve were clothed in those garments of skins provided for them by God, which they had no hand in making, but they simply stood while He clothed them with them; so the best robe of heaven, God’s own righteousness, covers every believing sinner and makes him fit.
Eddie heard these words and drank them in, and I believe it was just then that he trusted the Lord Jesus. He could not sleep that night for joy. In the silent night he sang:
“The best robe of heaven He bids thee put on,
Oh, could’st thou be better arrayed?”
In the morning he told his mother, “Mother, I have on the best robe of heaven.” When one of the teachers called to see Eddie, he told him the same story, and had you seen the happy smile on his pale face, you could not doubt but that his heart was happy.
Eddie got stronger, and with the help of his crutches he was able to go to the Sunday school himself. Before long, he became a teacher there, seeking to tell others of that “best robe of heaven,” which he had put on. Have you got it on, dear reader? It has been provided for you, and there is no other will fit you for heaven. But you must receive it as God’s free gift.
ML 08/08/1965