A Question in the Street

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” — from Psalm 51

At the end of 1892 John arrived in India. He travelled by train to the Punjab, the land of five rivers. It was a land of wheat fields and mud-walled villages, of camels and bullock carts. The people spoke Urdu and Punjabi, and John could not speak a word of either one yet.

In his first few days, an older missionary took him to a meeting out in the street. The missionary told the crowd that Jesus can truly save people from their sin. John could not understand the words, but someone told him what they were about.

When the talk was over, a well-dressed man stepped forward. He spoke good English. He asked the missionary whether Jesus had saved him from sin in the way he had just described.

That question went straight into John’s heart. He knew there was one sin in his own life that kept tripping him up, again and again. He never told anyone what it was. But he knew that if the man had asked him, he could not honestly have said yes.

John went back to his room and shut the door. He told God that he could not tell other people about Jesus’ power until he had let Jesus help him first. He stayed there praying for a long time, and God assured him that he was able and willing to set him free. Years later John said, “He did deliver me.” His friend never forgot John’s sad face when he spoke of his sin, and his wonderful smile when he spoke of how faithful Jesus had been.

Everybody has sins that trip them up. Maybe it is losing your temper, or telling fibs, or being unkind. You don’t have to hide them from God. You can tell him, and he is faithful to forgive you, to make your heart clean, and to help you.

Dear God, you know the things I keep getting wrong. Please forgive me, make my heart clean, and help me to do what is right. Amen.