James Barton, or "Jem," as his wife and workmates always called him, might well be proud of his little daughter, Minnie. She was a strikingly pretty child; and with her fair skin, blue eyes, and long golden curls, she would have made a charming picture. She stood, with a pleased, surprised expression, now glancing at a new sixpence that lay in the palm of her hand, now looking up into the genial face of the old gentleman who had just given it to her.
"What do you say for it, Minnie, dear?" asked her father.
"Oh, she did say, 'Thank you!'" said the gentleman, as he patted the golden-haired child. "Good-bye! God bless you, little one!" he added, looking kindly into her sweet face. With a brisk step he moved on toward the railway station, Jem Barton going with him to see him off on his homeward journey.
"Your little Minnie has learned her lesson well, friend Barton!" remarked the old man.
"What lesson, Mr. Stacey?" asked Jem.
"Why, to say, 'Thank you,' for gifts received! Have you learned to say, 'Thank you,' for all that has been given to you, James?”
"I hope I have, Mr. Stacey," replied Jem, wondering what his friend could mean.
"God gave His Son for you, that, believing in Him, you should not perish, but have everlasting life. Have you ever said, 'Thank you, Lord,' for that gift, James?” Jem Barton was silent.
"Have you ever taken, accepted Christ?" added Mr. Stacey, by way of explaining his former question.
"No! I am afraid I have not." The confession came slowly, shyly from Jem.
"Then, of course, you think no thanks are due from you. Yet is this not just a little rude, and ungrateful? If you do not want something a friend offers you, you ought at least to thank him for offering it. Will you do this today? Just tell God that you are much obliged to Him for His offer of His Son, Jesus Christ, but that you can do without Him!”
"Do without Him, Mr. Stacey? Why—why—how—what can I do without Him? O my God, I never saw it like this before!" The tones of Jem's voice were full of anguish as he spoke. "Can I be saved," he continued, "simply by accepting Christ as God's gift?”
"Yes, James; for God says, 'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.' It is not what we think, or feel, but what God says; and believing with the heart that Jesus is God's gift to us, a living receipt that our debt of sin has been paid, this is accepting Christ.”
Mr. Stacey lifted up his heart in prayer for Jem Barton as they silently walked on. Then the latter, turning to his old friend with tears in his eyes, grasped his hand, and said, "I do accept God's gift, and thank Him for it; and, God helping me, I will show my thanks in my life.”
Dear reader, let me ask you: "Have you accepted the Gift of God?" If not, what will you do without it, without Him?
God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to be your Savior, to die on the cross for your sins. All He asks is that you will accept Him. Can you, dare you, refuse Him?