The following is a fictional conversation, but the questions and answers are very real.
About a week had passed since John had given Fred the Bible.
One evening, John’s phone rang.
“John speaking.”
“It’s Fred.”
John smiled.
“How’s the reading going?”
There was a long pause.
“I... I need to talk to you.”
“Come on over.”
An hour later, Fred pulled into John’s driveway.
John was sitting on the porch with two cups of coffee waiting.
For a few minutes they talked about the weather, the hay crop, and anything but the reason Fred had come.
Finally, Fred looked down at the Bible resting on his lap.
“I’ve been reading the Gospel of John every day.”
John nodded, but said nothing.
“I’ve read about Nicodemus. The woman at the well. The man born blind. Lazarus.”
He paused.
“And I read where Thomas called Jesus, ‘My Lord and my God.’”
John smiled.
“What do you think?”
Fred looked up.
“I think Jesus really is the Son of God.”
John’s smile grew, but he still didn’t speak.
Fred continued.
“But something else happened while I was reading.”
“What was that?”
“I quit seeing everyone else’s sin.”
John quietly nodded.
“All I could see... was my own.”
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Finally Fred said, “John, I’ve spent my whole life thinking I was a pretty good man.”
“And now?”
“Now I know I’m not.”
John reached for his Bible and opened it.
“Listen to what Jesus said: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3).
Fred nodded.
“I read that three times.”
“You can’t earn eternal life, Fred. You can’t deserve it. Jesus already paid for it at the cross. The question is, will you trust Him?”
Tears filled Fred’s eyes.
“I do.”
John gently closed his Bible.
“Then tell Him.”
Fred looked surprised.
“You mean... right now?”
John smiled.
“I’m not the One who died for you.”
John stood, picked up his coffee, and quietly walked to the other end of the porch.
For several minutes, the only sound was the evening breeze moving through the trees.
When John finally looked back, Fred was still seated, his head bowed over the open Bible.
A little while later, Fred stood and walked over.
His eyes were wet, but there was peace on his face that hadn’t been there before.
“Well?” John asked softly.
Fred smiled.
“I came here looking for answers.”
“And?”
“I found a Savior.”
John reached out and shook his hand.
“Welcome to the family of God.”
As Fred walked to his pickup, the Bible was tucked securely under his arm.
This time, he wasn’t carrying the Bible because John had given it to him.
He was carrying it because, within its pages, he had met the One who had given His life for him.
THE END!