There is a story of a young minister who was going home late one evening from church. He passed a group of young toughs gathered around a street corner. Seeing the Bible under the minister’s arm, they immediately began making sneering remarks about him.
These remarks kept up, and as the young minister passed, to the amusement of his companions one youth said, “Say, Mister, how far is it to heaven?”
What would a consecrated Christian do under such circumstances? Here is the cause of heaven to defend. Is it allowable to lose one’s peace of heart, that precious possession, and blow one’s top?
Of course, one way to answer is to keep silent, but then one feels he is failing the Master. This young minister, with a quiet dignity and with all gentleness, replied, “It is only a step; will you take it now?”
