Curly lay in a long ward of the hospital. He was lame on one foot before, and while crossing the road on his stilt, a truck came rumbling round the corner, and before Curly could cross, he was run down. His other foot was so badly crushed, that it had to be taken off, and the doctors feared that Curly would die.
One of the nurses who had the care of Curly, was a Christian, and during the lone hours of the night, when the poor boy lay, awake with pain, she sought to wile away the time by reading stories to him of the Gospel. Curly was much interested to hear of sinful boys like himself being converted by believing on the Lord Jesus. He had never heard of such things before. The kind nurse sought to reach his conscience by telling him of his sin, and how God must punish it. This greatly disturbed the suffering boy, for he knew that he was a sinner in the sight of God.
“Do you think He’ll send me to hell, nurse?” Curly anxiously asked, after a long conversation.
“He does not want to send you there, Curly, I’m sure. He loves you very much, but hates your sins, and in order to get these sins away from you, He gave His own Son to die for you on the Cross. If you just believe in Him, He will save you from your sins, and make you so clean and pure in His sight, that you will he a fit dweller in His holy heaven.”
“But did Jesus die for bad boys like me, nurse?” asked the awakened boy?”
“Yes, Curly, He died for sinners, and that’s what you are, isn’t it?”
“O, I’m more than that. If you only knew it all!” said Curly, shaking his head at the memory of his sinful course.
“God knows all about it,” said the nurse tenderly; “and He says that it was just for such as you that Jesus died, and though your sins are many, yet the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses those who believe on Him from all sin. These are His own words, and I am sure they are true.”
The light of the glorious Gospel shone into Curly’s heart, and he was filled with peace.
“I’m so glad you told me of the love of God, and that Jesus died for had boys like me.”
His confession has the two grand marks of a genuine conversion. He owned his sin, and he trusted the death of Christ alone to atone for his sins. Reader, do you?
ML 11/29/1942