How Shall I Know That I Am Saved?

How Shall I Know That I Am Saved?

by  A. T. Pierson

     One afternoon a little girl, then only about eight years old, came into my study during the hours habitually given to conversation with those who were seeking salvation. To my question she frankly replied that she came to talk with me about herself. 

     I said to her: "Anna, are you a disciple of the Lord Jesus?"

     "Yes, Sir."

     "Do you know yourself to be a child of God?"

     "Yes, Sir."

     "Well, how do you know it?"

     "Why, Sir, because God says so."

     "Where does He say so?"

     "He says," she confidently replied, "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out."

     "But" I rejoined, "that does not say anything about being a child of God. How, then, do you know that you are?"

     "I know it because I know that I have come to Him, and He says that He will not cast out those who come."

     "Then," said I, "you know that you are His because you know what you have done; and you know and believe what God has said!"

     "Yes, Sir, that is it."

      And I said within myself, "What disciple of three-score years can give any better reason for his faith than this simple little child who knows her saved state because she rests on God's Word!"

     So deeply did this interview impress me that in the pulpit, the prayer meeting and the inquiry room I have frequently made use of the incident.

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Excerpted from the November 1, 1890 edition of The Epworth Herald (pg. 5) with the title "How Shall I Know That I Am Saved?" by A. T. Pierson.