Little Annie believed that Jesus loved her, and had died for her, that He was her Saviour, and it was her delight to please Him. When a friend of her father’s heard that she was saved, he laughed about people speaking of the conversion of little children. She had been such a sweet little girl, why should she want to be better? If old Joseph G. could be made to love the Lord Jesus, then he would believe that a man could be converted.
Little Annie was quite upset about this unreasonable speech. She went to her room, kneeled down at her little bed and said, Lord Jesus, they will not believe that I love Thee, because I am so little.” Then she ran away to old Joseph.
He was, without doubt, the most inn friendly, irritable man in the whole village. He worked all day long in his carpenter’s shop, and as soon as anyone carte in sight, he began to grumble and to scold. The result was that everybody who was not compelled to do business with him, kept well out of his way.
He was just in the act of sawing a board in two when a lovely child-like voice called out,
“Good morning, Joseph!”
The voice sounded, so sweet, that he turned round, without the usual frown on his face.
“Please, Joseph,” said little Annie, “I must tell you something, but you won’t be angry with me, will you?”
For years, nobody had spoken to Joseph, unless they had business with him, and, he wondered why this little girl wished to speak to him.
He laid his saw down, and sitting on a bench, looked inquiringly at his visitor.
“Well, my child, what do you want with me?
His voice was rough as usual, but it was a great thing that he had permitted himself to be drawn into conversation.
Little Annie sat down near him, and looked at him tenderly with her big brown eyes and said,
“I must tell you, Joseph, that the Lord Jesus loves me, and I love Him in return. But there is a gentleman who is on a visit to our house, who says I am too little to come to the Saviour, and that I do not need to, for I am so good already. He will not believe therefore that I have given my heart to Him. He says if you will begin to love the Lord Jesus, then he will believe it. Now, Joseph, will you not do that? The Lord Jesus loves you so much. Will you not love Him?” She seized the hand of the old man and went on,
“O, He loves you very, very, much, Joseph. You do know that He died on the cross for every one of us, don’t you?”
Poor old man! Nobody had ever spoken thus to him since his mother had gone home. The hot tears ran down his cheeks.
“You must not cry, Joseph, for God loves you He loves us all, even when we are grieving Him so much by our sins, and has sent the Lord Jesus from heaven to redeem us.” Joseph was deeply moved. He could only cry,
“God be merciful to me a sinner!”
While little Annie was speaking to him in her child-like way, the scales from his eyes had suddenly fallen, and he saw what a great sinner he had been.
He took refuge in Jesus, who came to bless sinners, and who could wash him clean in His blood, and before the little one had finally left him, he was praising God for His unspeakable grace.
When Annie got home, she said to their visitor,
“Now, you will believe that the Lord Jesus loves me, for old Joseph has accepted Jesus as his own Saviour and Lord.”
“Nonsense!” laughed the friend; “who told you that?”
“Well, you will see!” and he did see it, and not only he, but the whole village also saw it. Everybody saw that the old, ill-natured face had become bright and beamed with joy. Cross old Joseph became so friendly that everybody liked him, and anyone passing his workshop could hear him singing of the wonderful love of the Lord Jesus.
ML 11/10/1940