SUPPER was being served to a number of hungry boys and girls, after which there was a gospel address and hymn singing.
Suddenly an old man, with a very happy face, got up and walked briskly to the platform carrying a large parcel. He was a tinker, one who would go about mending pots and pans and other things.
“May I say a word to the children about what is in this bundle?” the old man asked. Permission was given, and he began to unwrap the brown paper covering. Then appeared a queer shaped object done up in newspaper. After that, a clean cloth was carefully unwound. Amid perfect silence, the old fingers loosened yet one more piece of paper. Then upon the snowy cloth he laid—a large, rusty, dirty old kettle!
“Now, children,” said old Mr. Leslie, with a broad smile, “I will tell you the story of this rusty old thing. I am a tinker, and I was on my country rounds one day, shouting, ‘Pots to mend, bring them here; tins to solder, out they come.’ Then up runs pretty little Peggy Patten with this big tin kettle. I takes it, looks at its bent spout and crooked handle, I taps the bottom and the sides, then I says quite grave, ‘Tell your grana, Peggy, that it’s past mending altogether. It needs replacing with a new one.’”
The old man continued, “Young friends, Peggy, her grandmother, and you and me, are just like this old tin thing. We may patch and tinker up our crooked selves a bit, stop a small hole here, solder up that big crack there, quite clever and educated-like, but we’ll never, never make ourselves fit for the eyes of a holy God. Sin has eaten right into us: our only hope is in being renewed by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus has told us ‘Ye must be born again.’ That’s gospel truth, for ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation).’ As sure as a kind friend gave Peggy’s grandmother a brand new kettle, so sure will God give you, a new heart, a new life, a new nature, and a new hope for time and eternity. All these and more are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Take Him as your Saviour now, and you will enter upon that new life tonight.”
ML-06/21/1964