John Williams (1796-1839) planned to go into commerce. He and some comrades had decided to spend an evening in a pub. John waited for the arrival of the others on the pavement. It was cold, and night had already fallen.

Losing his patience, he was about to leave, when a familiar voice called, “John, what are you doing here in the cold? Come to a gospel meeting nearby with me.” He didn’t want to go, but suddenly decided to do so out of revenge on his friends. Hardly interested, he sat at the end of a bench without listening and seemed lost in thought. However, certain words caught his attention: profit, loss, gaining and losing. “Do they talk about commerce in this church? That’s interesting: it must be the first time!”

The text chosen by the preacher was: “What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

“That evening my eyes were opened,” John said later, speaking of his conversion.

Since then his life changed completely. His friends mocked him, but he broke off their relationship and prayed for them, having recognised the undeserved deliverance that God’s grace had brought about in his heart.

At the age of twenty he embarked for the Pacific islands. Through him hundreds of indigenous cannibals, affected by God’s grace, gave up their cruel customs to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and...http://www.dailydevotionalsonline.com/devdetails.php?devotional=thegoodseed&&id=4814