Do you have some special friends? It’s wonderful to be with people you love and enjoy, isn’t it?
After John was saved, he lost many of his old friends. They had not learned the truth from God’s Word about salvation, and so they thought it was foolish for John to say he knew his sins were forgiven. I am sure John was sorry to lose these old friends, but God did not leave him without friends. In fact, God gave John many new friends. Some were perfect strangers before but they heard John preach and were saved. They became John’s best friends.
One of his new friends was a man named John Nelson. Even as a young boy John Nelson had been afraid of the judgment of God against his sins. He tried hard to live a good life but never could keep from sinning. In fact, when he tried extra hard to live right, he often found himself doing worse sins than ever.
John Nelson was a grown man with a family when he first heard John Wesley preach. Since Mr. Wesley was preaching from God’s own Word, Nelson felt like Mr. Wesley knew all the secrets of his heart. Nelson trusted in Christ and soon became a close friend of John Wesley’s.
There is not time or space to tell you all that Nelson did for His Saviour. Like John Wesley he told others about the Lord Jesus and often suffered from people who did not like to hear the Bible. At times they threw rocks at him, tried to break down a house he was in, and even tried to kill him. Once they took him off and tried to make Nelson be a soldier, hoping that would at last stop his preaching. But he simply preached to the soldiers until God delivered him and he could return home.
John Wesley was thankful to have a friend who was “a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
May this cheer any Christian boy or girl who is reading this book. You may have to give up some friends if you want to follow Jesus, but God does not intend for you to live alone. He will give you others who also love the Lord Jesus and will help you as you seek to follow Him. “Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22.