An English officer once had charge of a government station up in the mountains in India. Then he had to return to England and be absent a long while from his post. Who could he trust to take charge when he was gone?
There was only one man that he could think of, and that was a Hindu who lived in the neighborhood. So he made a bargain with this native Indian to take care of the station while he was away. One of the last things he did before he left was to give this native a New Testament. Then he went away.
More than a year passed before the officer could return. It was Saturday evening when he got back to the station, and when Sunday morning came, no one outside of his own house knew he had returned. Looking out of his window as soon as he got up in the morning, he was delighted to see how nice everything looked. He felt sure that the man who had been left in charge had taken good care of things.
About ten o’clock he again looked out of the window and saw a number of workmen and some of the natives who lived in the neighborhood, gathering inside a schoolhouse nearby. After a while he heard them sing a hymn. He called one of the servants and asked what they were doing in the schoolhouse. The servant said they had been there every Sunday.
“Has any missionary been here since I have been away?”
“No sir.”
“Then who started these meetings, and what do they do?”
“They sing and pray, and then the Sahab (Indian name for master) reads to them out of the Bible and talks to them about Jesus.
This was all very wonderful to the officer. When he went away, the Sahab was an unbeliever; he hated and despised the name of Jesus. And what had made this great change in him in a little more than a year? It was the New Testament which the officer had given him before he left. That New Testament was full of the truth of God and of the living bread which he had been feasting upon. God’s Word says, “The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” John 6:3333For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. (John 6:33).
ML-10/30/1977