A young Hindu man of high caste stood for a few moments on a street in Calcutta, listening to a gospel preacher. He heard the servant of God make plain the question of sin. The preacher said: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3.23 He walked away with the knowledge of his sins on his conscience, and he could not shake it off. However, at that time he did not receive God's way of salvation.
He was prosperous in business, and for a time his convictions were crowded out of his thoughts. However, when adversity came, again the sense of sin bore heavily on his conscience. He tried to find relief by living a religious life. So for several years he wandered over India and prayed at many shrines; but he found no rest or peace.
Later he joined a society of persons dissatisfied with Hinduism. They were a modernistic group who did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Their belief was: "Do what is right and just, and all will be well."
While this sounded good, it brought him no peace. To use his own words: "The remembrance of past sins kept rushing into my mind. Something seemed to say: 'Without an atonement for past sins you will perish."'
But this modernistic society rejected the teaching of atonement, while Hinduism acknowledges the need of some sort of expiation. So our friend returned to Ills old religion, and again wandered from holy spot to holy spot seeking peace. At Benares with its two thousand shrines he fairly gave way to despair, exclaiming: "What more can I do other than that which I have already done? Yet there is no peace!"
Finally, he returned to Calcutta to visit a sick nephew who had recently been converted to Christianity. The young man read portions from his Bible to his troubled uncle, and begged him to go and hear the preaching of a missionary who had helped him. There he again heard God's way of salvation, and this time he received it. With joy he exclaimed: "This is what I have been longing for for many years."
After obtaining a Bible in the Bengali language, he learned from the Word itself that "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).
Though he well knew that if he became a Christian he would become an outcast among his own people, he gladly became a humble follower of Jesus. With the peace of God in his heart he could now say with Paul: "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Philippians 3:88Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3:8).