MORNING MANNA 9-5-22
DELAY COULD BE DEADLY
“ (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)”- 2 Cor.6:2
Don Elbourne Illustrations says, Evangelist Paul Rader had often urged a banker in New York State to receive Christ, but the man would not make the decision. One day the preacher sensed that God wanted him to go immediately and speak to him again. So he took a train to the town where the man worked, hurried to the bank, and found his friend standing in the doorway.
“Rader,” he said, “I’m glad to see you! I wrote a telegram begging you to come, but later changed my mind and didn’t send it.”
“That’s all right,” said the evangelist, “your message came through anyhow by way of heaven.”
Under deep conviction of sin, the banker was impressed by Rader’s earnestness and his special effort to reach him with the gospel, and within a few minutes he accepted the Lord. In his newfound joy he exclaimed, “Did you ever see the sky so blue or the grass so green!”
“Hallelujah, you’re truly converted!” came Rader’s response. “It’s just like the song says, ‘Heaven above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green, something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen.”
Suddenly the banker gave a strange gasp and fell over dead! He had been saved at the very brink of eternity. What if Paul Rader had delayed or failed to stress the banker’s urgent need of turning to the Lord immediately? That man may have been lost.
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
Humble, Tx.
