Memory Verse: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9
Lisa was a busy nine-year-old. She liked to play softball and kickball or climb trees lots more than playing inside with dolls. But today she was inside leaning on the windowsill looking out, because she was sick. She was tired of just lying in bed listening to her friends playing outside.
It was early in January when the weather was dreary that Lisa got sick. Her mother thought she had the flu, so she put Lisa to bed. “Drink lots of liquid, and get lots of sleep,” her mother had instructed her as she tucked Lisa in bed.
But Lisa’s “flu” didn’t get any better. In fact, as the days went by she just seemed to get a little worse. Her parents were beginning to wonder about this “flu.”
It was the following Saturday afternoon, a week after Lisa had gotten sick, when her daddy twisted his ankle. He was working in the basement on a project when he tripped over some wood. It really hurt. He rubbed it awhile and then went on working, thinking the pain would go away.
The next morning when the family was getting ready to go to Sunday school, Lisa told her mother that she felt lots better. This seemed strange since just the day before she had been quite sick.
“No, I don’t think you had better go to Sunday school today,” her mother said. Lisa was disappointed, but felt happier when her mother suggested, “You stay home and take care of Daddy.” Lisa’s daddy had wakened that morning with his ankle badly swollen. He couldn’t walk on it, so he had to stay in bed. The rest of the family went to Sunday school and meeting.
Although Lisa did her best to “nurse” her daddy’s ankle, by evening it was no better and seemed even worse. Her mother took him to the emergency room of the hospital to have it examined. The doctor discovered that his ankle was broken!
While the doctor was making a cast for the broken ankle, Lisa’s daddy talked to him about Lisa’s strange flu. “One day she’s very sick, and the next day she feels fine,” he explained to the doctor. The doctor looked at Lisa’s parents and announced, “I’m going home with you to examine her. She could have a ruptured appendix. If she does, we’ll have to operate right away!”
Lisa was very surprised to see her daddy come home with a cast on his foot. But she was even more surprised when she saw the doctor come in with them! He poked and pressed around her side, asking Lisa where it hurt. It didn’t take the doctor long to decide her appendix was the problem. He called the hospital and had them get ready for an emergency operation.
Lisa was bundled up, and she and her parents followed the doctor to the hospital. A short time later, Lisa was taken into the operating room to have her appendix removed.
Several days later when she was feeling much better, a family friend visited Lisa in the hospital. He asked her, “If you would have died, would you have gone to be with the Lord Jesus?”
Lisa’s happy answer was, “Oh, yes, I would have.”
The friend smiled and said, “Have you ever told your daddy that you are saved?”
Lisa couldn’t remember if she had, so she called her daddy over and said, “Daddy, did you know that if I would have died, I would have gone to be with Jesus?”
Tears came to his eyes as he patted her on the cheek and said, “Yes, dear, I knew that. But I’m so glad to have you tell me. And it makes the Lord Jesus happy that you have told me.”
How about you? Are you ready to meet the Lord Jesus, like Lisa was, if you should die or when the Lord returns? The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31. It also tells us that we shouldn’t put off accepting Him as our Saviour, because “thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Proverbs 27:1. Don’t wait any longer. Accept the Lord Jesus Christ right now as your Saviour. He loves you even more than your parents do. Because He loves you so much, He died on the cross for you. He suffered there for your sins so that you could be saved. All you have to do is believe that you are a sinner and that the Lord Jesus died for your sins. When you have done this, then tell someone about it. Think how happy your Christian parents, brothers, sisters and friends would be if they knew that you were saved and loved the Lord Jesus. Remember what the Bible says in Romans 10:9 and 10, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
ML-10/11/1981