There are many other things in this poor world that the enemy of your souls and mine would like very much to have us occupied with. Some of them seem so charming and attractive and worthwhile. Others seem so filled already with disappointment and despair. If he occupies you with the one, you will be terribly downcast. If he occupies you with the other, you’ll be, for a time, very enthused about that which he puts before you. But the time will come, and you know it well, when anything but Christ will bring disappointment. You and I have seen that, beloved. But never, never, never have you, never have I, seen anyone occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ discouraged or disappointed. I just feel when I get to visit some of these dear old folks as though the Lord Himself took me by the hand, took me to the very gates of glory and caused me to stand there with that dear old brother or sister. I looked into a countenance that was filled with joy and hope as the life of expectation was about to be realized. And I looked at the glowing countenance and I said to myself, “Ah, but what a difference to have walked in the sunshine of His love all through those years and see the joy at the end of the journey!” Then perhaps the Lord brings me back to where I am now and says, Don’t forget, that’s what lies at the end of the journey when you and I have the Lord before us.
Two Last-Minute Visits
One day I was visiting in the hospital with a dear sister who was just about home. She couldn’t speak above a whisper, and as I walked toward her, she couldn’t sing. Instead she began to say with just a faint whisper, “So dear, so very dear to God, I cannot dearer be; the love wherewith He loves His Son, such is His love to me.” And then she whispered, “Brother, please sing that at my funeral.” Sure enough, in a matter of hours, she was with the Lord. But I’ll not forget the joy of that expression and the look on her face as she whispered those words.
I walked out of her room and down the hall into the room of another. He also knew the Lord Jesus as his Savior. He also was at the very gate of eternity, but he had no joy whatever. No joy whatever. He had spent his life amassing idols — and he had plenty of them. He was a wealthy man. He was going to leave much behind him. Much did I say? He was going to leave everything behind him. Sad to say, all the things that he had labored for he was about to leave behind. Now he knew where he was going. And I believe without any doubt in my soul that dear man is with Christ.
But as I compared those two last-minute visits, for they were both gone in such a short time, I thought of such verses as these. On the one hand, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Oh beloved friends, without enlarging upon it, I want to repeat it with all my heart. May the result of your spending time with God’s Word be that you and I, young and old, may have before us the person, the unchanging person of our Lord Jesus Christ! His heart is so full of love toward you and me ... a personal love. Remember a verse like this, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” Does that do anything to your heart? If you heard the Lord Jesus speak those very words in your ear, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine,” what would it do to you? Would there be some response? I want to tell you something. If you don’t feel some response, then please don’t try to pretend any longer that you’re a Christian.
A. C. Hayhoe