Every Sunday evening a service was held in a gospel hall in one of the villages on the island of Saint Vincent. Mr. Bowson would never attend one of those services, even though he had been invited many times. No, gospel services were not for him! Instead, he would sit on the wall across the road with other men from the village. These men were his friends, and they would just sit around chatting.
However, there was one thing that puzzled Mr. Bowson. When the service was over, the people would come out of the building and stand around talking to each other, sometimes for over an hour. He wondered, What could they possibly be talking about? Were they gossiping about their neighbors? Were they criticizing those who would not attend the meetings? Were they talking about him? Yes, he decided that they must be talking about him, and that made him curious and angry! He decided to find out.
One Sunday evening after the service had started and he was sure everyone was inside, Mr. Bowson hid in the tall bushy grass by the front steps of the gospel hall. This thick, bushy grass grows in clumps along walls and banks and is called Old-Man’s-Beard. A person can very easily hide in this grass and not be seen. From his hiding place, Mr. Bowson knew he could hear everything they said when they came outside.
When the gospel service was over, the Christians began to pour out of the hall. Some stood around in the doorway, others stood on the steps, some were in small groups in the little courtyard, and others stood by the road. They were all chatting, but what Mr. Bowson heard was not gossip. They were talking about Jesus and the Bible. They discussed what they had heard in the gospel service and how wonderful it was to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. Some talked about the blessing of being a child of God.
Mr. Bowson was very uncomfortable, not just from crouching down in the tall grass, but because of what the people were talking about. The last thing he wanted to hear was talk about Jesus or verses from the Bible. He wished he could leave, but he did not want to be caught spying. So he had no choice but to stay huddled in the tall grass for an hour or more and listen to the people talking about their Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally the last believer was gone, and he was able to sneak out and down the road to his home. But Mr. Bowson was never the same again. As a result of what he heard that night while he was hiding, he realized he was a sinner and accepted Christ as his very own Saviour. From then on he attended the services and joined in the happy conversations about the Lord Jesus and His love and what it meant to be saved from his sins. Mr. Bowson passed on the good news of salvation in that part of the island until the day of his death.
We never know when someone is watching us or listening to what we say. If you are a believer, are your conversations such that they can be used by the Spirit of God to win others to Christ? If you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, remember that we are to be witnesses for Him wherever we are. The Bible says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)).
ML-12/25/2011