“MOTHER,” said Janet, just seven years of age, “how old must I be before I can be a real Christian?”
You will notice that Janet said “a real Christian,” for of course it is a bad thing to be a false one — an imitation, like a bad penny which is worth nothing!
Now Mrs. Pierce was a wise Christian mother and she answered her little girl’s question by asking her three others.
“How old must you be, my dear, before you can love me?” she asked.
“Why I am old enough to love you now, Mother, and I do love you very much,” replied Janet.
“How old must you be before you can trust me?”
“Oh I’m old enough now, Mother.”
“How old must you be before you can obey me?”
Little Janet looked a little ashamed but she replied, “I am old enough now, Mother, but I don’t always do it.”
“If you are old enough to love, trust and obey your mother, Janet,” said Mrs. Pierce, “then you are old enough to be a real Christian, for a real Christian is one who loves and trusts and obeys the dear Saviour, the Lord Jesus.”
Are you a real Christian, dear reader? Is the Lord Jesus precious to you?
ML-01/27/1974