A Christian doctor was asked to visit a young man who lay very ill in his room in New York City. When the doctor arrived at the bedside, the young man said: “Doctor, I don’t want you to deceive me; I want to know the worst. Is this illness to prove serious?”
After examining him the doctor said: “I am sorry to tell you that I’m afraid you won’t live out the night.”
The young fellow looked up sadly and sighed: “Well, then I have missed it at last.”
“Missed what?” asked the doctor.
“I have missed eternal life,” he replied. “I have always intended to become a Christian some day, but I thought I had plenty of time and kept putting it off.”
The Christian doctor tried to console him saying, “It is not too late. Call on God for mercy.”
“No,” he continued, “I have always had a great contempt for one who repents of his sins when he is dying; he is a miserable coward. If I were not sick I would not have thought about my soul, and I’m not going to insult God now.”
The doctor spent the day with him, read to him many precious salvation texts from the Bible and tried to get him to lay hold on the proses of God. But no, the young man said he would not call on God, and in that state of mind he passed into eternity. Just as he was dying the doctor saw his lips moving. He bent down and caught the last faint whisper: “I have missed it at last!”
O, dear unsaved reader, do not be like that young man. Make sure now that you do not miss eternal life at last. Come to Christ now; make Him your Saviour while He still waits to receive you. Now is your chance; you may not have another. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Time is running out. God has said: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” Gen. 6:33And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (Genesis 6:3). Press in through the open door to life, peace, and heaven. Perhaps at any moment that door may close forever, and you will be left outside with nothing but awful judgment awaiting you. God grant that you may not have to say at the end, “I’ve missed it at last!”
ML-06/12/1966