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A Friend Shut Out

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A Friend Shut Out

6 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

Long ago, in the city of Glasgow, and in a crowded district near the harbor, I discovered a solitary widow occupying a single room, well-looked after but very ill off. Having made myself acquainted with her history and her circumstances, I soon found the means of relieving her wants.

It is worthwhile to say here in passing that it is not difficult to relieve the sober and industrious poor. It is the poverty connected with intemperance that is incurable. Poverty caused by drink is not only the greatest in amount, but it is of the worst kind. Here are two vessels, one much larger than the other, and both empty. It is your desire and your duty to fill both with pure water. But on looking more closely, you discover that the smaller vessel, though empty, is watertight, while the larger in addition to being empty, is full of holes in the bottom. The smaller you can easily fill, but to fill the other is impossible. Such is the difference between the poverty which comes upon sober people through accidental circumstances, and the poverty caused by drink. You can help the one kind, but you can do no good to the other although you had all the wealth of the city at your command.

I soon found a friend with a full purse and a willing heart who gave me all I needed for my widow. He thanked me for supplying him with the opportunity of doing good. With the money in my pocket, I went joyfully to find the poor woman and relieve her distress. Arriving at her door on the top of a rickety stair, I knocked for admission; but no answer. I knocked again; knocked a third time loud and long, but receiving no answer, I retraced my steps.

Next day I found means of conveying a message requesting her to come and see me. As soon as she entered, I said to her, “Mrs. B., I was at your house yesterday with money sufficient to pay your debt and to buy necessary food and clothing, but you must have been from home, for the door was locked and I could not get in.”

A look of surprise came over her countenance, while she answered, “No sir, I was in the house all day yesterday. I didn’t go out.” “You must have been asleep then, for I knocked three times— the last time very loudly—and got no answer.” “Ah sir,” said the poor woman, the tears coming fast to her eyes, “I see how it is. I heard the knocking but thought it was the man for the rent, and as I had no money, I sat still and held my breath.” The transaction was soon over, the money was paid, and the widow, with a light heart, was out of sight and on her way to a happier home.

But out of sight, she was not out of mind for me. The widow and her case came up before me more vividly than ever. Like the experience of Israel in the wilderness, although a real history enacted before my eyes, it was also an allegory clearly representing great spiritual facts. In its character of allegory it became larger and more distinct than in its character of remembered facts. I could not have invented an analogy so well-fitted to show how human hearts, through a deep mistake, refuse to open and let the Savior in.

“Behold I stand at the door, and knock!” Such is the attitude and appeal of the Lord Jesus. Reader, you have heard the knocking and kept the door shut.

Why? For never such loving visitor sought entrance into a human home. He comes to seek and to save. He comes to give freely the payment of all your soul’s debt, and a title to the kingdom.

All true; and perhaps the reader knows that now. But at first you feared him as the widow feared me under a mistake. You looked upon that august visitor as a righteous Judge, demanding the payment of an immeasurable debt, while you had nothing to give. You thought He had come to throw you into prison till you had paid the uttermost farthing. You shuddered, and kept silence, and kept the door of your heart shut against Him. At the same time you made a secret resolution to pay Him all some day, and so be delivered from an intolerable bondage. You would repent, and break off your sin, and when you should be somewhat more worthy you would open to receive Him.

That is, in your ignorance you turned the gospel upside down. Christ came to bestow pardon, and you supposed He had come to exact the debt. Christ is the Savior. You supposed that you must serve yourself first, and then He would receive you. You supposed that He came to receive saints, whereas He came to receive sinners. You supposed that by keeping back—dreading Christ instead of trusting Him—you would through time grow worthy of Him; whereas the longer you remain out of Him, the more unworthy you will grow. You thought that the branch out of the vine should remain separate until it should by great exertion become fruitful, and then the vine would receive it; whereas the longer it remains out of the vine, the more it withers and grows fit for the burning.

The divine Redeemer stands at the door and knocks. He has come not to demand anything from you but to bestow all upon you. He exacts nothing and gives all. Your part is not to give to Him but to receive from Him. He will pay your debt and make you rich. It is not that you first cease to be a sinner, and so be worthy of His favor as a saint. He bestows his pardon on you, a sinner, and then you love Him because He first loved you.

Rev. Wm. Arnot (1808–1875) was a renowned minister and author in the Free Church of Scotland.

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van zondag 1 juli 1990

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's

A Friend Shut Out

Bekijk de hele uitgave van zondag 1 juli 1990

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's