Mr. Albert was a missionary in South America who often went to the Children’s Hospital when someone he knew was sick. He had just finished a visit and was ready to leave for home when he saw a little girl he didn’t know who was crying so hard that he stopped to see what was wrong. Her name was Maria.
“I want to go home,” she sobbed, not knowing that Mr. Albert was watching her.
Stepping over to her bedside, he gently said, “Hello. You don’t look very sick.” He had noticed that all the others in the room were getting medicine, but not Maria. Still sobbing, Maria didn’t answer him.
Mr. Albert asked the nurses about Maria, but they wouldn’t tell him anything either.
Mr. Albert felt so sorry for Maria. Most of the other children had a mother or a father there with them, but there was no one with Maria. Then he saw the man in charge of the hospital and asked him about Maria. “What’s wrong with her? She doesn’t look very sick. Why can’t she go home?” he asked.
“Oh, she’s fine now,” the man said, “but her parents don’t have the money to pay her hospital bill. She can’t go home until her bill is paid.”
Mr. Albert felt so sorry for the little girl who had to stay in the hospital even after she was well, that he asked how much the bill was. He decided to pay it for her. He was so happy that now Maria could go home.
Now there was another problem. No one would be coming to take Maria home. Her mother did not have a telephone so she couldn’t be called, and she would not be coming to see Maria, because she knew that the people at the hospital would ask her for the money she owed.
First, Mr. Albert took Maria to the door of the hospital and asked her where her mother worked. Maria said, “Down the street,” but he soon realized that she really didn’t know.
Then the nurses had an idea. “We’ll announce it over the radio,” they said. “Someone in her family will hear it.” So, they called the radio station and had them announce that the hospital bill for Maria had been paid and she was now free to go home. Mr. Albert had to leave for a Bible meeting, so he left without knowing what happened to Maria.
A few days later, Mr. Albert was surprised when Maria and her mother knocked at his front door! They had asked all around the town to find out where he lived, and someone was finally able to tell them.
“I just wanted to come and tell you thank you for paying the hospital bill for Maria,” Maria’s mother said.
Mr. Albert assured her that she was welcome, and he was so glad that they had come to say thank you.
To Mr. Albert’s surprise, Maria came back another day to see him. After that she came so often that busy Mr. Albert finally had to ask her to come only on the day of the children’s Bible class they held.
Like Maria, each of us has a great debt to God because of our sins, that we can never pay. But God loves us so much that He sent His Son to pay that debt for our sins by dying on the cross. Have you received the gift of God, which is eternal life, through the work the Lord Jesus did on the cross? “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
If you have received the Lord Jesus as your Savior, unlike Mr. Albert who was too busy to visit with Maria whenever she wanted, the Lord Jesus loves to be with you as often as possible. His ear and His heart are always ready to hear you when you pray to Him, and He will never tell you that He is too busy. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:11Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (Isaiah 59:1)). “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)).
Messages of God’s Love 6/9/2024