WERE the dying words of a dear young lady to her weeping mother. “I did love Jesus once, but then you made me learn dancing, and the world took the place of Jesus in my heart.” How sad! The world is very attractive, but remember it hates Christ; it murdered Him once; and people’s hearts are just the same now as then. You may speak of Washington or Lincoln, but breathe the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at a Christmas party, a party professedly held in honor of the birth of Christ, and you will be told it is out of place, and not the time to speak of Him! Boys may boast of their runs at cricket, or their prizes, but let a boy boast of the Lord Jesus; or, as I once knew a boy do, put a paper with the questions, “Do you love Jesus? Are you saved?” in another boy’s Latin grammar, or school book, and he will be scoffed at and persecuted. And all this, too, in a Christian country.
Ah, dear friend, do you want to belong to such a world? To be its friend? No! Go forward in the path of faith, where Jesus has gone before, leaving the world behind you. Whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Come out, then, and no longer refuse to own that One who• came into the great slave market and took pity on your slavery and wretchedness, and
SOLD ALL THAT HE HAD
to set you free; bought you out of the hands of the cruel slave master, and from the horrors of the lake of fire; bought you by His own life-blood. Beware, lest if you still refuse to own such a Saviour, the Lord should take you away by death, as He did in the case of a boy I knew. During his last illness his parents were anxious about his salvation; but almost to the hour of his death he said nothing that could give them a ray of hope. At last he called his mother to his bedside, and said, “Mother, you think I am not converted, but I am, only I have never confessed Christ. I was saved a year ago, when you took me to hear Mr.—, but I would not confess Him, or let anybody know that I was saved; and I know the reason He is taking me away—it is because I refused to stand up for Him here.” Then, turning to his sister, he said, “Sister, I know you, too, are saved, though you have never confessed Christ. But take care, if you do not own Him, He may take you, too, away by death.”
It was quite true, she had been saved some time, but had concealed it. Now, thank God, she had owned the Lord. May you do the same at all costs. You will not regret it when you meet the One who has saved you, and to whom you are dearer than a thousand worlds, or the highest angel. May you this day be able to sing—
“At home, at school, by night and day,
Christ for me.
At work, at leisure, or at play,
Christ for me.
Him first, Him last, Him all day long,
My hope, my solace, and my song,
He sweetly leads my soul along:
Christ for me.”
“Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father, which is in heaven.
ML 06/24/1917