by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
HE PAID HIS OLD DEBTS
One afternoon it was my privilege to lead an elderly barber to Jesus Christ. He soon walked the aisle and was baptized. With this comparatively unspectacular beginning follows one of the most spectacular stories in my ministry.
A few days later in a public service the quiet, unemotional barber rose and asked if he could speak from the pulpit. Rarely do I grant such a request, but I felt moved to do so on this occasion. He said something like this:
"Last week I was saved. Since then I have been traveling a great deal of the time. I first went to Brownwood, Texas, to a hospital to pay a bill I have owed for over thirty years. My oldest son was born in that hospital over thirty years ago. I had cheated them out of the bill. Now I am a Christian, so I drove over 150 miles to pay that bill.
"I then sought to find the doctor who delivered my son and to whom I had owed money for that delivery for these many years. I paid that debt.
"After settling up in Brownwood, I then drove to Abilene, Texas, where I paid some more debts incurred at the birth of another child.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have driven most of the week. For the first time in over a quarter of a century I am free of debt and my conscience is clear. I am a Christian now and I plan to live as a Christian. I am the happiest man in the world."
He then left the pulpit to join an electrified audience. Most of the people knew him and many had patronized his barber shop for years. Needless to say, it wasn't long until his wife was saved as well as his 31-year-old son, the son's family, his teenage daughter, his young married son, this son's wife, and many others.
Recently I learned of the death of this barber. My mind wandered back to that public service when he announced he had made it right with his neighbors because he had made it right with his God. He is now with Christ because Jesus paid his debt, and he is receiving rewards because he himself paid his honest debts.
Soul winning pays.
