Joe was a Native American who lived many years ago. He had done so many crimes that a reward was offered to anyone who would turn him in to the police because of all the murders and other crimes he had done.
Since Joe was a wanted man, he decided to move far away. A group of missionaries happened to be traveling by the place he lived, and Joe volunteered to be the driver of one of their wagons, since they were going to the country of a different Native American tribe far away.
Being with Christians did not turn Joe into a good person! He hated their religion. Whenever he saw a hymnbook, he would scowl at it as if it were a snake. He disliked the Bible even more, and when one was being read, he would go where he couldn’t hear it. On Sunday, since he wasn’t needed to drive, he would go off with his gun and spend hours shooting whatever animals he could find, so that he could be far out of range of hearing the Word of God.
As the wagon train went on its way, one Sunday in the middle of July it was so hot that Joe did not want to take his usual walk. He lay down in the shadow of one of the wagons, carefully choosing a wagon belonging to a missionary who was not supposed to do the preaching that day.
But the preacher whose turn it was to preach was so overcome by the heat that he had to be excused, and the owner of the very wagon under which Joe was lying offered to take his place. Soon the little group gathered around the wagon Joe was under, and the meeting began.
Joe had been half asleep, lying comfortably on the long grass under the wagon. He was furious at being disturbed. To lie still while hymns were being sung and to see the Bible opened were too much for him. He would move. Rising to his feet, he stretched himself and started off. But the heat was intense, and Joe felt too lazy to move. He again threw himself down on the grass, and there he lay, on his back, right in front of the preacher, his angry eyes glaring at him.
“Lord, help me to preach to Joe,” prayed the man inwardly, as he saw the opportunity he now had. Forgetting everyone else, he told of the love of God to all people. He said that though God gives us rain and sunshine, animals and birds to eat, as well as corn and fruit, yet people do not love Him in return. Indeed, instead of loving Him, they hate Him, His servants, and His Book. But did He send lightning to strike them down for their hatred? No, He had given His Son to die, to put away their sins. He had shown His love to them, to the worst of them, even to murderers, and if they would only believe in His Son, He would forgive them and make them His dear children.
Soon Joe was watching the speaker intently, and the preacher saw the anger fading from his eyes. God says, “My word ... shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:1111So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)).
Joe did not forget that sermon. One day, as he walked beside a different missionary, he said, “Didn’t the preacher tell awful lies that hot Sunday?”
“Lies, Joe? I did not hear any.”
“He said God loved wicked people. Wasn’t that a lie?”
“But wasn’t that an awful lie, that the Father gave His Son?”
“No, Joe, that is also in God’s Book. ‘In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins’” (1 John 4:9-109In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9‑10)).
Then Joe said, “But it must be a lie, that He was preparing the beautiful country for them.”
“No,” was the answer. “That too is wonderfully true. It is also in God’s Book. Jesus the Son of God said to sinful men, whom He loved and had saved, ‘I go to prepare a place for you’” (John 14:22In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)).
Such love as this was a new thing to Joe. It was like something hard around his heart had been broken, and now he had a longing to learn more of the love which passes knowledge. When they reached the mission station, Joe refused to go on, preferring to serve the missionaries, who were very happy about the change they saw in him. Joe learned more of the Word of God, which was now important to him, and one day he received the Lord Jesus as his own Savior and happily began to follow Him. So Joe, wanted by man for his sins, became a beloved child of God, because he was also wanted by God, for his good.
Messages of God’s Love 6/15/2025