Three or four times a week I went to the nursing home to visit a dear old friend of mine. During these visits I came to know my friend’s roommate, Stanley. But there was something about Stanley I didn’t care for. I didn’t like to hear him talk. Sometimes he took the Lord’s name in vain, and the Lord Jesus is precious to me, so that made me sad.
One day when I went to visit my friend, Stanley was lying on his bed, gasping for breath.
After I’d greeted my friend, I said, “Hello, Stanley, how are you doing today?”
“Not good,” he answered. “I’m getting ready to check out.”
“What do you mean, Stanley, ‘check out’?”
“Yeah, I’m getting ready to check out.”
Assuming he meant he was about to die, I thought about the times I’d heard Stanley use the Lord’s name in a careless way, sometimes even as a curse word. I knew if the Lord Jesus were precious to him, he just couldn’t do that. Besides that, God has given us a plain commandment in His Word, the Bible, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).
As I thought about those things, I said, “But, Stanley, you’re not ready to check out.”
Stanley gave no answer.
“Stanley, where would you go if you checked out?” I asked.
Still no answer. I had some other things I needed to look after, but I couldn’t leave Stanley like that. He was 71 years old and, yes, he looked as though he were soon going to die.
“Stanley, do you know there’s a God who loves you?”
“Yes, my mother used to take me to Sunday school and she told me about that.”
“Do you know He sent His Son to die for you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know that if you refuse to come to Him for forgiveness you’ll end up in hell?”
“Yes.”
“Would you like to be saved, Stanley?”
“Yes.”
“Do you ever pray?”
Stanley shrugged.
“Would you like to ask the Lord Jesus to save you, Stanley?”
“Yes.”
“Stanley, there’s something I need to talk over with you first. Have you ever sinned?”
“Yes.”
“Then you need to pray something like this: ‘Lord, I’m a sinner and I need Jesus to save me.’ But do it in your own words, not mine.”
Stanley bowed his head and prayed, “God, I’ve been a bad man. I need Jesus to be my Saviour. Jesus, save me.”
And I believe Jesus did save him. Stanley is still living, but he is not the same anymore. His language has changed, and now he reads Sunday school papers, just like the one you’re reading. He never did that before. When the Lord Jesus saves us, we become members of God’s family, His sons and daughters, with a nature like His. John 1:12-13 says, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Have you asked God to make you one of His children? Would you like to do that right now?
ML-10/22/1995