When I was visiting a relative I met his daughter who was an earnest Christian worker in the town in which she lived. I had heard strange stories about her extreme piety which had prejudiced me against her, but a short acquaintance with her proved to me that she had been grossly misrepresented. I suppose she knew that I loved the world, and had been warned against her "religious fanaticism.”
In her room one day I noticed she had her Bible lying on her table. I took it up and read on the flyleaf: "Helen Saunders; born 1895, born again 1916.”
I laughed outright and said, "What a strange inscription!”
"I am glad to be able to say that it is true," she quietly remarked. To this I replied with a sneer: "They should put it in the newspapers.”
Quietly she answered, "Ah, Mary, it is too important and solemn to joke about. The new birth is real, and I can thankfully say it was the beginning of a new life of peace and happiness to me.”
No more was said, but it was enough. That testimony to the reality of being born again stuck to me. God blessed it to me in making me think seriously of my own state, and I never was satisfied with my flimsy, hypocritical religious profession after that. Through His mercy I was brought to know that I was a sinner, needing to believe on the Savior, to be "born of God." 1 John 5:11Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. (1 John 5:1). Now too, I can say, through grace, that in Christ I know what true happiness is.
"Herein is love, not
that we loved God, but that
He loved us, and sent
His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.”