Thought for the week: Why not come as a sinner for salvation?
For the official opening of Belfast City Hall in the year 1906 the celebrated artist, Sir Robert Porsonby Staples, was commissioned to paint scenes typical of Belfast at that time.
The paintings were to hang in the corridors of the new City Hall.
Mr Staples decided that one of the scenes that must be painted was the famous Bangor Ferryboat. One day as he walked around the quayside taking in the scene, he noticed a young barefooted boy, called Sammy Spence. The lad was dressed in rags and had grubby little hands. As he stood there with a bundle of newspapers under his arm he called out, 'Tele! Tele! Belfast Telegraph!'.
Sir Robert felt compelled to include this boy in the painting. So, he called the lad over, and made an appointment for him to come to his studio for a sitting. Sammy could not believe that the artist wanted to paint him, and when he arrived at his home in Newfoundland Street, he wasted no time in telling his mother what had been arranged. Mrs Spence thought Sammy will have to look his best when he goes to the studio to be painted, so she scrubbed him clean and dressed him in his brother’s suit and shoes.
When they arrived at Sir Robert’s studio, the artist did not recognise Sammy and when he was informed who the lad was, he was embarrassed and said: “I didn’t want you to get all dressed up for the painting. I wanted you to come just the way you were down at the docks”
Sammy was very disappointed, and his mother had to take him home to get changed into his old working clothes, and then they returned to the studio, so that he could sit for the painting.
Just over twenty years later, on a Friday night in 1927, Sammy Spence was converted to Christ after another evening of heavy drinking. His life was completely changed, and he started to serve the Lord, and was a founder of the famous Coalmen’s Testimony Band, and then later the Coalmen’s Mission.
When Sammy preached and testified, he would often tell the story of how his mother had cleaned him up to sit for the painting. It was an illustration of how many people try to reform their lives before coming to Christ in Salvation. Maybe that is the mistake that you have been making. If it is then let me make it clear that God does not want, you to dress up or reform your life before you come to Christ. There are no conditions attached to the invitation.
Just come as you are right now, come as a sinner to Christ for Salvation. (St Matthew 11:28).