The Personal TouchChapman, J. Wilbur (John Wilbur)
Religion
The Personal Touch
Chapman, J. Wilbur (John Wilbur)
Evangelistic work; Salvation -- Christianity
The presence of this lad and the service which he rendered to Jesus, as
well as the use which the Master made of him, all help us to teach our
lesson. Youth is the time to turn to Christ. The wise man knew this
when he said, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth; while
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh; when thou shalt say, I
have no pleasure in them." Sin has not so strong a hold upon a life in
the time of youth, therefore it is the easiest time to turn to Christ.
I once heard a man tell the story of his special work among outcast men
and women, and when I asked him he told me how he himself was converted.
He said that as a boy in London, he was left one day in charge of the
private office. He said "I wanted to write a letter and I took the
firm's note-paper; I used one of their envelopes, and when I wanted
postage I opened the private drawer of the safe, the door of which was
swinging open, and took out one postage stamp, and when I put this stamp
upon my letter and dropped it into the post-box I felt as if I had
dropped my character with it. That was the beginning, and the end was a
prison cell, for I went from one form of thieving to another until I was
obliged to pay the penalty. I found Christ while I was in prison, but I
feel as if the mark of my early sin would never leave me. I would urge
every boy to accept Christ," he said, "before the cords of sin bind him
too securely."
When one reaches the age of eighteen he finds it extremely difficult to
turn away from the sins that are mastering him, and when he passes
beyond twenty years of age, the tide against him is extremely heavy.
The critical time in the life of boys and girls is from twelve to
twenty. If they do not accept Christ during these years, it is wellnigh
impossible to win them. If this is true then we must make the most of
the opportunities of influencing the youth whom God is ever bringing
before us.
The Scripture used in connection with this feeding of the multitude is
a good illustration. It is a lad who confronts us, and this is, as has
been said, the favourable time for bringing Christian influence to bear
upon him. There is a time in the life of every boy when it is
comparatively easy to win him to Christ. Parents surely know this, and
Sunday school teachers may easily discover it. "How did you come to
Christ?" said a New York minister to a little boy. His reply was, "My
Sunday school teacher took me last Sunday out into the park. She drew
me away from the crowd and took her seat beside me. She asked me if I
would become a Christian. I felt that I ought to do so, and because her
invitation was so definite, and she seemed so interested, I told her I
would do so, and because I am a Christian I went to join the Church."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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