I once read an article in a newspaper with the title that said something like this: “There are still weird guys!” There was a story about how a man rode the horse railway in Berlin, which still existed at the time, without a ticket. Years later, when he had become a believer and when the Holy Spirit reminded him that he had defrauded the railroad company of ten pence, he quickly made up his mind and sent to the railway the ten pence and five pence as a percentage to lighten his heart.
It only caused a lot of looks and laughter in the board of the association, no one took it seriously and the article “There are still weird guys!” appeared in the Berlin daily newspaper.
I was very moved by this story. I’ve known for a long time that weird guys exist but I read something completely different from the article: God takes it seriously!
The following Sunday, I also talked about the story in my sermon and said: “God takes it so seriously and He will not leave a person alone even if he is only ten pence to blame for.”
The next morning a woman I knew well came to visit me. She was the master tailor’s lady and she said: “Your sermon yesterday gave me a very unpleasant task. Some time ago I bought something in a shop and paid for it with three Marks, which I was supposed to get back a little. The seller, however, was not attentive and gave me back as if I had paid with five Marks so I got back the excess of two Marks. After your yesterday’s sermon, I couldn’t calm down, I went to the store, told the seller the whole story and gave him two Marks back.”
She had hardly left when a craftsman I know came: “I’m coming for a sermon.”
I asked what was wrong with it.
“I have carried one window pane with me for many years.”
I asked how that was possible.
“When I was still a student, once while sweeping the floor of a shop, I dropped a brush into the window and the square broke. I told the owner that the wind broke the window. Now I went and paid off the square and everything is fine.”
After a few moments, another woman came in: “Your sermon yesterday cost me a hard move,” she said.
“How so?” I asked.
“When I was still a schoolboy, our merchant, from whom we bought school notebooks, had a custom that everyone would get two more steel feathers. Once there were many customers in the store and the merchant held out a whole box of feathers in front of me, saying: “Take it yourself!” I thought the chance was favorable and grabbed a good handful. When I looked at them more closely, it turned out that I had caught 32 steel feathers. You won’t believe how those 32 feathers tormented my conscience!”
I said I believed and asked what happened next.
“Now I went back there, reported my theft and paid. Fortunately, the merchant was still alive and finally I got peace from these feathers!”
This is how I learned how many people carry a burden that disturbs their peace.
At the next Blankenburg conference, I told the story of the fifteen pence and what it entailed.
At the end of the meeting, a man came up to me and said: “The man with whom the fifteen-pence story happened is me. When I saw how the German newspapers were laughing about it all, I thought that maybe the refund was a mistake after all. But today I heard what a blessing has followed this story and it makes me very happy indeed. I am very grateful to have been able to hear that.”
My friend, do you also carry a window pane?
Have you ever gotten too much cash back?
Or something else?
I beg you, sort this out: openly confess and give back what is not yours.
Until you do, your peace is ruined.
If the Holy Spirit has indicated a story in your past, then the matter must be resolved in a way that pleases God, otherwise you are deceiving yourself and the Holy Spirit.
God takes it seriously!
From the book “Aus meiner Hausapotheke” translated by Kadri Peebo (Published in the newspaper “Kuulutaja”, February (2(52)), 1994.)
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