When I was a small boy on my father's farm a large painted swan was given to me as a toy. I proudly carried it wherever I went! In the farmyard, ducks, geese, turkeys and hens were all eager to get in touch with their painted "brother" and would follow me. But my swan had no life! Pretty as it was, it was dead and could not answer them.
As a schoolboy I saw the wax figure of a great soldier, life-sized, dressed in the uniform of a general. It was very striking and many said, "lifelike," but it was dead. It had all the parts and outward show of a warrior, but it lacked life.
Later in life I visited a fine cathedral in which a most imposing service was in progress. Music, choir and robed preacher were there. The whole program was enacted without a hitch or jar. Ears and eyes responded to its magnificence. The audience said, "impressive," but the effect never reached conscience or heart. There was no spiritual life or power in it. It was religion, but not a living Christ.
Years later, in a little cottage where an elderly grayhaired woman lived alone, I rested one summer day. She gave me a hearty welcome and brought me a drink of cold spring water. As she handed it to me she said, "It is as free and refreshing as the water of life." ("Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.)
She then told me the story of her conversion as a young girl, of her happy life as a wife and mother, and the peaceful evening of life as a widow. Her story went to my heart; there was life in it. It came from her heart as a living testimony to the power of Christ to save, to sustain and to satisfy. It convinced me of the reality of eternity, and became the turning point in my life.
I had been brought up to read and revere the Bible and go to church, yet I do not remember ever having heard of the need of being saved or of having eternal life from a living Christ. The life of that elderly Christian opened my eyes to the reality of a living Christianity and I determined not to rest until I had a personal knowledge of it in my own soul.
While listening to a sermon on "Christ the Life-giver," I was converted. I learned then that by looking to Jesus, the uplifted Savior, by believing His word and receiving Him, I too could have eternal life.
"He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5:12.
"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 5:24.