In a pleasant town there lived a lady who was wealthy, who devoted her time and means to religious and charitable objects. But notwithstanding all her kindness, she lacked the one essential thing, faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through the instrumentality of a niece she was brought under the plain, searching preaching of the Word of God, which discovered to her that she lacked the one thing needful, to be a Christian.
At the close of a gospel meeting, in which the preacher had spoken of the need, the nature, and the way of the new birth, from John 3, and pointed out that Nicodemus, the Jewish Rabbi, whose night visit to the Lord Jesus Christ is described in that chapter, was a learned, a moral, and a religious man, yet he needed to be born again before he could 'see or enter the kingdom of God.' As they walked together on their way home along the quiet moonlit streets, the elder lady broke the silence by saying to her niece, "That was a powerful discourse we listened to tonight, but I confess, that part of it seemed very strange doctrine to me. If the new birth is what the preacher stated, then my religious experience has nothing like that in it.”
It was a delicate and difficult matter for the niece, who was much younger, to say all that she desired, in pressing home upon her aunt the full force of the truth, so she modestly said, "Well, aunt, if you have any difficulty or doubt about, I am sure Mr. B. will be pleased to come to our house tomorrow afternoon, and then you can have a talk with him about it." That arrangement found favor and so it was settled.
A full hour before the appointed time, Amy's aunt walked into the room with a beam of brightness on her face, and clasping her niece to her bosom, said, "I have it now, Amy. I had a great struggle after I left you last night. First I was angry at the thought that I who had been so well brought up, and have been so busy in religious and church work, should be classed among those who were not saved.
But as I looked up the various Scriptures we were referred to in the address last night, I was obliged to own that I had never personally known any such experience as they describe, and then my misery became intense.
"All at once the thought came to me, if you have not been born again, why not like Nicodemus know that experience now. So I turned to the verses which say, "As many as received Him (Jesus) to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name" (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)), and that they have everlasting life (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).”
"It was there clear and simple, yet I had missed it, but I am saved now, and O, I am so thankful that God showed me what I lacked.”
That night's experience had mighty results in the afterlife of that lady. She did not cease her efforts for the good of others, but they had a new motive power behind them henceforth. She did not do good to get life, but because she had it as a free gift from God, whose child she now was, born into His family, with His love shed abroad in her heart.
Reader, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Are you sure your religion began with a new life or is it only `dead works' without Christ?