THE boy I want to tell you about, we will call Oscar. When he was about eleven years old, he was sent to a boarding-school kept by a very good Christian man. After he had been there for some time, the teacher said he had an announcement to make to all the boys.
“Mr. A., a friend of mine,” he said, “is coming to stay here for a few days. He is very fond of boys, and he wants to give you a short address one afternoon, to which I have agreed. I hope you will all listen attentively to what he has to say.”
The day came for Mr. A. to give his address. The boys had no idea what he was going to speak about, but when he stood up with a Bible in his hand, and began by asking God for His help and blessing, they knew that it was not just an ordinary subject, like science, or history, or travels.
Mr. A. read a very short text from the Bible:
Then he told the boys that in order to belong to God, and enter His Kingdom, it was not enough for them to strive to be good, and truthful, and honorable, but in order to have a place in the Kingdom of God they needed to be born again.
Finally he said, “Now boys, I shall be staying in this house a day or two longer, and if any of you would like to have a little private talk with me during your play-hours, you will know where to find me.”
Oscar was a boy who liked to understand things. He felt he had not by any means understood what Mr. A. meant by being born again. Whatever it meant, he felt quite sure that he had never been born again.
That same evening, before the half-past six bell rang, Oscar knocked at the. door of the room where Mr. A. was sitting.
“Come in,” said the voice of the visitor, and Oscar walked in.
“If you please, sir,” he said, “I’ve accepted your invitation to come and have a talk with you.”
“That’s right, my boy, I’m glad to see you. What shall we talk about?”
“I want to know what the Bible means by our having to be born again.”
“I’ll try to explain. You see we are all sinners, and not only that, but helpless, undone sinners, too bad for any turning over a new leaf, or any such thing, to be of use. Our hearts, our very natures are corrupt. And no good thing can come out of one that is utterly bad.
“What we need is not merely a fresh start, but something entirely new to make the fresh start with. This is what God gives us in the new birth.”
“Then I should like to be born again, if you please, sir.”
I don’t know if Oscar thought that Mr. A. could help him to be born again. If so, he was quite mistaken. Only God, by His Spirit, can work this wonderful thing in us. But Mr. A. explained further that what we have to do when we find out that we are sinners and want to be saved, is to put our trust in the Saviour.
The Bible says a great deal about “believing in Him,” and this is just what it means. He shed His blood to atone for our sins, and that precious blood avails to wash them all away. We have but to trust in Him to do this for us.
Whether Oscar understood Mr. A.’s explanations, I cannot say. But this I know, that Oscar has indeed been born again, and can speak of the Saviour as his own Saviour, since he has trusted Him to wash all His sins away by His blood.
ML 11/17/1918