#194 - The First Offer

The First Offer

  A clergyman was visiting a man of business and the following conversation substantially occurred:
  “It is true,” said the merchant, “I am not satisfied with my present condition. I am not 'of a settled mind in religion,' as you express it. Still I am not utterly hopeless. I may yet enter the vineyard, even at the eleventh hour.”
  “Ah! your allusion is to the Saviour's parable of the loitering laborers who wrought one hour at the end of the day. But you have overlooked the fact that these men accepted the first offer.”
  “Is that so?”
  “Certainly; they said to the lord of the vineyard, “No man hath hired us.' They welcomed the first offer immediately.”
  “True; I had not thought of that before. But then the thief on the cross, even while dying, was saved.”
  “Yes, but it is likely that even he had never rejected the offer of salvation as preached by Christ and His apostles. Like Barabbas, he had been a robber by profession. In the resorts to which he had been accustomed the Gospel had never been preached. Is there not some reason to believe that he, too, accepted the first offer?”
  “Why, you seem desirous to quench my last spark of hope.”
  “Why should I not? Such hope is illusion. You had really no promise of acceptance at some future time. Now is the accepted time! Begin now.”
  “How shall I begin?”
  “Just as the poor leper did when he met Jesus by the way and committed his body to the great Physician in order to be healed. So commit your soul to Him as a present Saviour. Then serve Him from love. The next – even the most common – duty of life that you have to perform, do it as a service to Him. Will you accept the first offer? Your eyes are open to see your peril. Beware of delay!”
  “You are right; may God help me. I fear I have been living in a kind of dreamy delusion on this subject.” Ex.

Illustrative Anecdotes for Preachers, Sunday School Teachers, and the Family Circle. Henry M. Tyndall. 1925. #194 (Pages 101-102).