Linda called out, “I’d really like to be saved! I want to get to know Jesus! But how do you do it?” The lady was a resident in the nursing home where I was speaking.
“You just have to trust Him by believing that He died on the cross to save you from your sins,” I told her.
“But I thought you had to go to church to do that,” she said.
“No, that’s not necessary.” I explained, “The Apostle Paul was in the middle of a road when he got saved.” Then I read to her Acts 9:3535And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. (Acts 9:35): “ ‘As he [Paul, who at this time was called Saul] journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.’ ”
Certainly everyone doesn’t get saved through the same events as Paul did. But Romans 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9) tells us exactly what we must do: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Another person from our group explained, “We need to open our hearts to the Lord Jesus and invite Him to come in. Sometimes we sing a little song that goes like this:
Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus;
Come in today, come in to stay,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
Let’s sing it now as a prayer,” he suggested.
Linda closed her eyes as she sang that prayer along with us.
Another person in our group then told Linda and the other residents the account from the Bible about the thief hanging on the cross next to the Lord Jesus. “The thief simply said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise’ (Luke 23:42-4342And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:42‑43)). He was hanging on a cross, dying; he had no time to go to church. He got saved right there on that cross.”
Linda was so happy to hear these things, and she trusted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour right then and there by believing that He died on the cross for her sins.
Before the residents returned to their rooms, they were each given a large-print Gospel of John booklet. The following morning a Christian worker at the nursing home took a large-print Bible to Linda. She found Linda reading and underlining the Gospel of John booklet she had received the day before. Linda was so pleased with her new Bible that she was either reading it or carrying it around all day, telling everyone she saw how very happy she was that Jesus had come into her heart. She also told the Christian worker that she hadn’t been happy or felt loved since her husband had died. Now she knew that God loved her so much that He had sent His own beloved Son to die for her sins so she could be saved and live in heaven with Him when her life down here was over.
Not only can you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour right now, wherever you happen to be reading this, but you also don’t have to wait until you’re older and in a nursing home. NOW is the time to trust in Jesus. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2):
“Behold, NOW is
the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.”
ML-11/02/2003