February 2, 2021 (Tuesday)
The date was around half-way through the twentieth century and it was night. I got on the wrong road (I’m very good at that). It was unpaved and muddy. Suddenly I felt the car slip to the right and then down a slight incline into mud. I made attempts to get out of the mud but nothing worked.
Then a car drove up and a man got out and offered to help. He worked and worked. He was determined to get my car back on solid ground. The clock was ticking. It was getting later and later, but he would not give up. Finally, after a long time of exhausting work, my car was back on the muddy road and I was thanking the man. “I want to pay you…” I began, but he interrupted me. “No,” he said, “my pay will be you helping someone else along the way.”
That incident illustrates our spiritual plight. We’re trying to help ourselves, but nothing seems to work. Finally, God sent His only Son to help me. He saw my need, and helped me. As the song says, “He lifted me up from the miry clay.” He made it clear to me that He had come to me in my need and there was nothing that I could do for myself. He did it all. It involved suffering, but He gave Himself freely to help me. It became clear that He had not helped me for glory or praise, but only because He could do something for me that no one else could do. And He had done it for me as an act of undeserved mercy. He did it by grace.
The Apostle Paul understood that we owe the Lord a huge debt, and we pay that debt by telling others what the Lord has done for us. Here’s what he said: ” I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also” (Romans 1:14-15 KJV).
Today, my desire is to repay the Lord for what He has done, but His answer to me is like that of the man who helped me in my distress many, many years ago: “My pay will be you helping someone else.” We are debtors to everyone who needs to be saved because we know what the Lord can do in their lives. We owe them the message that “Jesus saves!” We can give them this message: “What He’s done for others He’ll do for you.”
IT IS NO SECRET
Stuart Hamblen (1908-1989)
1950
The chimes of time ring out the news
Another day is through
Some one slipped and fell,
Was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength
Your courage to renew
Do not be disheartened
I have news for you.
[Chorus:]
It is no secret what God can do,
What he has done for others,
He’ll do for you.
With arms wide open,
He’ll pardon you
It is no secret what God can do.
There is no night, for in His light
You’ll never walk alone.
You’ll always feel at home wherever you may roam,
There is no power can conquer you,
While God is on your side.
Take Him at His promise,
Don’t run away and hide.
[Chorus:]
It is no secret what God can do,
What he has done for others,
He’ll do for you.
With arms wide open,
He’ll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do.