A little girl named Susie was talking to her father one day, and said, “I wish I had some money to give to God, but I haven’t any.”
“God does not expect you to give Him what you have not,” said her father, “but you have other things beside money, and when we get home I will read something to you which will show you plainly what you may give to God.”
After dinner Susie’s father took down a large book from his bookcase and made Susie read a passage aloud from it, which he pointed out, as follows:
“I have been to God this day and have given myself to Him, all that I am and have; so that now I am no longer my own. I have no right to this body or any of its members; no right to this tongue, these hands, these feet, these eyes and ears; I have given myself right away.”
“These are the words of a good man, written long ago, who is now in heaven. Do you see from this, Susie, what you have that you may give to God?”
Susie was silent, as she looked first at her hands and then at her feet. At last she said in a low voice half to herself: —
“I don’t believe God wants them.”
Her father heard what she said, and in reply he said,
“He does want them, and He is looking at you now to see whether you will give them to Him; or keep them for yourself. If you give them to Him, you will he careful never to let them do anything naughty, and will teach them to do every good thing they can. If you keep them for yourself, they will be likely to do wrong and to get into mischief.”
“Have you given yours to Him, father?”
“Yes, indeed, long ago.”
“And are you glad you did?”
“Yes, very glad.”
Susie was still silent; she did not quite understand what it all meant.
“If you give your tongue to God,” said her father, “you will not allow it to speak unkind angry words, or tell tales, or speak an untruth, or indeed anything that would grieve God’s Holy Spirit.”
“I think I’ll give Him my tongue,” said Susie.
“And if you give God your hands, you will watch them, and keep them from touching things that do not belong to you. You will not let them be idle, but will keep, them busy about something.”
“Well then, I’ll give Him my hands.”
“And if you give Him your feet, you will never let them carry you where you ought not to go; and if you give Him your eyes, you will never let them look at anything you know He would not like you to look at, if He were by your side.”
“But now I have left the most important thing till the last, and that is giving Him your heart, for I am sure that if you give Him your heart, you will feel that you belong to Him entirely, and will not want to keep back anything.”
Then they knelt down together, and Susie’s father prayed that God would bless all they had been saying, and especially help her to yield her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ as her own loving Saviour.
ML 02/23/1936