A man had been taken desperately ill and had been brought to the city hospital. Up to that time he had lived in all the pleasures and distractions of the world. He was grateful for the care that was shown him, and especially for the tenderness with which he was ministered to; and he wished in some way to express his gratitude.
One day he offered one of the nurses a ticket to the theater, "to give her," as he said, "a pleasant evening." The nurse refused it, saying that she never went to the theater because she was a Christian. The following day the invalid offered the ticket to another nurse who was also a believer, and he received the same reply.
Two Or three days later the sick man urged a third nurse to accept his, ticket. This one, like the others, had the happiness of knowing the Lord Jesus as her Savior. As a child of God and an inheritor of His glory, she answered more explicitly: "I possess for my heart something that gives me joy infinitely beyond anything that all the theaters and all the pleasures of the world can give. My place is not in the theater, and the theater has no place for me. My heart is filled with peace and joy in the Lord."
These words were to the poor man both strange and incomprehensible. The three testimonies, given by three different persons, astonished and troubled him. He asked the nurse: "How have you become the possessor of such happiness? Do you think that I, who am about to die, can obtain it?"
The nurse had not time at the moment to talk with him, but she gave him a tract entitled: "Bad, but not bad enough." Singular title, was it not? But there are indeed many who have this thought: they are willing to acknowledge that they are neither good enough nor holy enough in themselves to stand before God; but to be so bad and so guilty that they are wholly lost they will not believe. Consequently they put away from themselves the grace of God which is offered them. This is why many do not come to Jesus to find in Him the salvation they need.
The sick man read the tract, and a few days later he told the nurse that it was an exact picture of his case. He accepted the condemnation as just, except in one point. "And what is that point?" she asked with some curiosity.
"Well," said he, "your tract tells of a man who is bad, but not bad enough in his own eyes to need a Savior. But it does not speak of one who is too bad to dare to come to Jesus; That is my position. Ah! You do not know, nurse, what a great sinner I am."
"No," replied the nurse, "I do not know; but God knows, and He says in His Word, by the mouth of the apostle Paul: 'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.' 1 Timothy 1:15, 1615This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (1 Timothy 1:15‑16). And now the one that calls himself the chief, or the greatest, of sinners is in heaven, having been washed from his sins by the blood of Christ."
The distressed invalid could not at once lay hold of these precious truths. For several days he was very quiet, meditating upon the most serious of all subjects. He even seemed to desire to be left to his own reflections, although he visibly suffered under the weight of this question: "What must I do to be saved?"
At length a remarkable change was apparent in him. By the expression on his face he showed that he had PEACE. One day when the nurse brought his tray he said to her: "Oh, nurse, I have something to tell you, but I can't find words to express it. I am so ignorant of these things. But I am happy—oh, so happy— so full of joy—I don't know how to say it."
The nurse, desiring to hear from his own lips the reason for his happiness, asked him: "Where did you get such joy? For days you have looked so sad."
"How can I tell?" replied the sick man.
"I can't explain it, but so it is. Before, when I thought of the past, I looked back and saw my life as sins upon sins. Now, when I look back, I see Christ and His work on the cross. Yes, and as to my future, I saw only suffering and misery. Today I see every-where nothing but Christ and His love. Soon it will be nothing but Christ in eternal glory.
This I know is just because He saw me, a poor lost sinner. He loved me, and gave Him-self to die for me."
What a confession of faith in the Savior! Happy the one who has "nothing but Christ." Is He your portion, dear reader?