My earliest recollections are of a large China swan being given me as a toy, which I carried into the farmyard, followed, by geese, turkeys and hens, all eager to get into touch with their painted "brother." But it had no life; pretty as it was, it was dead and could not answer them.
When I was a schoolboy I remember seeing the wax figure of a great soldier, life-size, dressed in all the uniform of a General. It was very pretty, and they said "lifelike;" but it was dead. It could not speak, hear or see. It had all the parts and outward resemblances of the great warrior but it lacked the life.
Later in life, I visited a fine cathedral in which there was a most imposing service being conducted. Music, choir, and robed preacher were there, and the whole program was carried through without a hitch or jar. It was simply magnificent and the people said "impressive," but the "effect" passed away at the door and there was no more of it. It appealed to the senses, but never reached the conscience or the heart. There was no spiritual life or power in it. It was religion but not a living Christ.
In a humble dwelling inhabited by a single woman, gray-haired and old, I rested on a summer day. She gave me a hearty welcome, brought me a drink of cold spring water and said as she handed it, "It is free and refreshing as the water of life.”
I heard from her lips the story of her conversion as a girl, happy life as a working man's wife, and peaceful evening of life as a widow. Her story went to my heart; there was life in it. It came from the heart. The living witness herself was there. It was that simple, living testimony to the power of Christ to save, to sustain and to satisfy, that convinced me of the reality of Christianity, and became the turning point of my life. I had been brought up religiously, taught to read and revere the Scriptures, keep the Sabbath and go to church, but I do not remember hearing of the need of being saved, or of having eternal life from a living Christ.
The words of that aged Christian turned my thoughts into a new channel, I was convinced of the reality of a living Christianity and I determined not to rest until I had a personal knowledge of it in my soul, until I was converted. That happened while listening to an address on "Christ the Life-giver.”
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
I learned then how to get that life, not by works or efforts of mine, but by looking to Jesus the uplifted Savior, by hearing His Word and believing on Him.
I came to Him as I was, gave up all hope of saving myself, and simply trusted myself to Him, to Himself only, and I received life. Yes, the Word often read, came true in me, "He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5:99If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. (1 John 5:9).
I received Christ, I have life in Christ now, a living Christ as my salvation, not a dead profession as once I had, but a living, loving Friend, beside me, in me, for me, awaiting me in glory.
The dead swan was pretty, but lifeless; the imposing service entrancing but ineffectual; but the living stream that flowed from that aged Christ-filled heart, carried the conviction of sin to me.
The Gospel presents a living Savior: One to save, to keep, to satisfy. Open your heart to Him. Receive Him, and you will prove His love and His power. There is all the difference in the world between a dead religion, a lifeless profession, and a living Christ. Make sure you have Christ.