The Personal TouchChapman, J. Wilbur (John Wilbur)
Religion
The Personal Touch
Chapman, J. Wilbur (John Wilbur)
Evangelistic work; Salvation -- Christianity
Such men are all around us; men in deepest need; men with sore aching
hearts. There was a man in an American city who occupied a high
position among men. He took his own life. Under the stress of political
excitement he misappropriated the funds of the bank, thinking he could
repay them, and in his beautiful home he put the revolver to his temple
and shot himself. The saddest letter I have ever seen was written by
that man. He wrote to his wife asking her forgiveness. He told her to
pray for the children whom he had dishonoured. Then he concluded his
farewell letter with this statement: "Through all the months I have
been wishing somebody would speak to me about becoming a Christian." In
the light of such facts I believe that what we need in these days is
not so much, more men to preach--although that would be a great
blessing--as people in the church who will be absolutely consistent. If
they say they believe God's Word to be true, they must speak to those
over whom they have an influence, about the personal acceptance of
Christ.
I was waiting one day outside the office of the Governor of one the
Western States, and while I waited, the Lieutenant-Governor spoke to
me. He said, "I was in your service last night, and I want to take
issue with you on what you said. You told your hearers to go up and
down the streets asking the people to become Christians. I think if
anyone should come into my office and ask me to become a Christian I
should tell him to go about his business." "You surely misunderstood
me," I said; "what I told them was this, that if a business man was not
a Christian, his friend who is a Christian ought to speak to him kindly
about his soul." I had been introduced to the Lieutenant-Governor by
one of the great politicians of the State, who was a sincere Christian,
and I said, "Suppose our mutual friend here should come to you and say,
'I am a Christian. I think it is the best thing for a man to be a
Christian. I am not always what I would like to be myself, but I should
like to invite you to become a Christian.' Then suppose he should tell
you what a strength and help it had been to him, what would you say to
him?" He looked at me for a moment, and said, "I think I should say
'Thank you.'" I am sure thousands could be won to Jesus Christ if the
members of the Church were consistent in the matter of living in Christ
and giving an invitation to people to become acquainted with Him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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