How may I be converted? For from the text which says "Except ye be
converted" it would seem as if some power outside of ourselves must be
working in our behalf, and this is true. The foundation of it all is
the atonement by Christ, his sacrificial death upon the cross.
Rejecting this truth, there is no hope for us. In our sinful
condition, the spirit of God rouses us, convicts us of sin, convinces
us of our need of a Savior, and finally God, in his grace, gives us the
strength to yield, and we pass from darkness to light.
Sometimes great need drives us to light, as in the case of Nicodemus;
while again great sin compels us to come to him, as in the case of the
thief on the cross. But whether it be need or sin, let us start with
little faith, if we have no more, and God will meet us the moment we
start. I once conducted services in a soldiers' home. The commanding
officer told me, when the service was concluded, of a former inmate, an
old sea captain, who came to the institution a confessed infidel. He
refused to attend any of the services in the chapel; finally he was
taken ill, and then the commanding officer entered his room, asking him
to read the Scriptures, which he declined to do. Again he came
suggesting that he read the Bible to see if there was any part he could
believe, and a bottle of red ink and a pen were left by his bedside,
the officer suggesting that he mark any verse red if he could accept
it. This appealed to the dying man and he said, "Where shall I read?"
The officer said "Begin with John's Gospel." And he did so. He read
through two chapters without making a mark, and through fifteen verses
of the third chapter. Then he came to the sixteenth verse, which is a
picture of the very heart of God, and he reached for his pen and marked
the verse red. When this much of the story had been told we reached
the old captain's room and passed the threshold to find the bed empty,
for he was gone. "I wish you might have seen his Bible," said the
captain. "I sent it to his family recently. There was not a page in
it that was not marked red." Over his bed swung a pasteboard anchor;
marked upon it were these words--"I have cast my anchor in safe
harbor." For he had gone home.