April 24

CHRIST the only DOOR: “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (Jn 10:9). Charles Berry, an English Congregationalist preacher, for some time served in the milltown of Bolton, Lancashire. One evening he was accosted by a young girl on the street, her cheeks wet with tears. “You a minister?” she asked. In response to his nod, she said, “You must come with me and get my mother in!” Berry tried to refuse, but she took his sleeve and repeated, “Preacher, get my mother in!” So reluctantly he went with the girl to her mother’s dying bedside, where she lay on a pile of rags. Renowned for his eloquence, he began to speak of Christ’s example and care for the poor and the sick. “That’s no good,” said the desperate woman. “I don’t need an Example. I’m a sinner.” Changing his approach at her insistence, the minister simply told the story of the Savior dying for sinners. “That’s it!” she said. “That’s the Savior I need!” She got in that night. And so did he!

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