“But I am really a good child,” said a little girl, to whom I had spoken about the saving of her soul. I was trying to explain to her what God says about us, that we are all sinners, but she kept repeating, “I am a good child.”
“Tell me, then, what kind of pele the Lord Jesus died for?”
“For sinners,” was her quick reply. “Then are you not a sinner?” “No, I am good.”
“The Lord Jesus did not come to save good people.”
“My father says that I am good, and I am, indeed,” she repeated, and the tears ran down her cheeks.
“I do not doubt your father’s words, and gladly believe that you are very good to him, and that you are a lovable, obedient little daughter, kind and friendly to everybody; but all that is not sufficient for a holy God. Jesus says, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’.”
“I do not believe you,” she cried. “I rather believe what father says.”
“You may not believe me, but I will read you what God’s Word says.” I drew my Bible out of my pocket, put my finger on the words, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” Romans 3:1212They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:12), and asked her to read it out loud.
“I cannot read,” was the sullen awer, “but father can.”
“Will you ask your father to read this chapter to you? Have you a Bible?”
No, she had no Bible, but she said her father would read the chapter to her if she had one. I gave her a New Testament, and said to her, that she might call on me again.
A short time after, she came and told me with a happy look, that she had now found the Saviour.
I asked her how it came about, and she said: “My father read the chapter to me and I saw there that I was a sinner.”
“I asked the Lord Jesus to forgive all my sins, and He has really done it, and I am now so happy!”
I questioned her still farther, because I was afraid she might have been deceived. But she said that what I had told her about sin had made her very unhappy. She had always believed she was quite safe as she was, for she had been told that she would go to heaven, if she was good.
I had assured her that even bad thoughts were sin in God’s eyes, and when she remembered how many bad thoughts and sinful actions she had been guilty of, she was very much afraid; then she began to turn to the Lord.
“If the Lord Jesus were to come tight, would you go with Him to hean?” I asked. She was silent for a moment, then looked at me and said earnestly,
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Why do you believe it?”
ML 07/01/1945