"Not So, Lord"

     There was a young lady who went to her pastor with a spiritual problem.  A time was arranged, and she presented herself.  At his request she unburdened her heart.  The conversation ran something like this:

     Well, Margaret, what is your difficulty?  Pastor, I really should like to surrender my life to the Lord Jesus Christ."  Well Margaret, why don't you?"  "There are just two things that stand in my way, Pastor."  "And what are they?"

     "Now you know that I am an accomplished pianist, and have had the privilege of playing on the concert stage.  I am just afraid that if I surrender to the Lord, He will ask my to give this up."

     "Is that all?"

     "No, there is one thing more.  If I yield my life to the Lord, I'm afraid that He will tell me I am needed in India as a foreign missionary; and I do not want to go."

     "Is that all, Margaret?"  "That's all."

     The pastor then asked her to turn to Acts 10:14.  Out of the verse he selected just three words: "Not so, Lord."  He explained that this was a contradiction in terms.  If Christ was Peter's Lord, the Peter had no right to say, "Not so"; and if Peter had the right to say, "Not so," then Christ was not his Lord.  The girl saw this.  The pastor then wrote the three words on a piece of paper.  Margaret had to make her choice.  Either "Not so" must be crossed out, or "Lord" must be crossed out.

     The pastor left the room.  In a few minutes he slipped back.  Margaret's head was on her arm, and she was sobbing softly.  The pastor glanced of her shoulder.  the piece of paper read, "Lord."

     Would that we were all Christians with one word vocabularies; and that one word was "Lord"!

     You love Him.  Is He Lord? I beseech you, by the love of Christ, to present yourselves in utter abandonment to His will and purpose.