“How long have you been lying here, Mrs. Brown?”
The old woman turned slowly on her bed to face her visitor. “Oh, a long time,” she replied, “and I don’t think I’ll ever get out again.”
“Are you a Christian?” asked the visitor.
“I’m trying to be one,” she answered hesitantly.
Her friend was thoughtful for a moment, and then she asked, “Do you ever try to be Mrs. Brown?”
“No! Of course not! I am Mrs. Brown.”
“How long have you been Mrs. Brown?”
“Ever since the wedding day,” she answered in surprise.
“And haven’t you any doubt about it?”
“None whatever,” she answered promptly. Holding up her hand she added, “I have known that I was Mrs. Brown ever since that ring was put on my hand.”
“That’s just how it is with me,” the visitor said. “I don’t try to be a Christian, but I know I am one and that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ ever since I put out an empty hand and received Him as my Saviour. It is not by anything that I have ever done or ever could do that I gained everlasting life, but simply by believing God’s record ‘that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). It was just necessary to receive Jesus as my Saviour and believe that ‘being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him’ (Romans 5:99Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9)).”
It was a new light to the poor woman who had been struggling with doubt and trying to earn that everlasting life, which God won’t sell to anyone, but which He freely gives to whosoever believeth.