"Ruby, are you a Christian?" Ruby was a ten-year-old friend of mine.

"I do not know," she answered.

"Are you saved?" I asked. Again, she said, "I do not know."

"Well, how can you be saved?" I continued.

"By being good."

"How good do you have to be?"

"Awful good."

"How awful good?" I asked.

"Awful, awful good," she said with deep earnestness.

"Are you that good?"

"Oh, no," she promptly answered.

"I guess you are not saved then," I replied.

She hung her head and said, "I guess I'm not."

"I am not that good either," I said.

Ruby's eyes grew big and I could see that she was thinking deeply. You see, I was her minister. And if, as she said, one had to be "awful, awful good" to be a Christian, then I was not saved either. And if the minister was not saved, then who was saved anyway? Then Ruby began to see that her idea of how to be saved must be wrong.

Now Ruby asked her big question. It was: "How, then do we get saved?"

I gave her the only true answer to that question. It is found in the Bible, which is God's Word. I showed her that all of us have sinned, and we could never be good enough to save ourselves. Then I told her that God loved us so much that He sent Jesus, His only son, to die for our sins, and that when Jesus died on the cross, God laid all of our sins on Him.

"Ruby, God's Word tells us that if you will receive Jesus as your own Saviour you will be saved at once. Salvation is a free gift, which only needs to be received by any sinner. This makes him a Christian," I said, "and then, after we are saved, God will work in us to make us good."

When Ruby understood all of this, a glad look came into her eyes. for she now saw that she could really be saved at once. Then I asked her if she would accept the Lord Jesus Christ. This she did gladly, with all her heart.

I did not see Ruby again for nine years. I did not even hear anything about her. Then one evening I met her when was a lovely young lady of nineteen. She was an earnest Christian. She was sure she was saved, and she was just as sure that it happened that day I talked to her when she was ten.

Would you like to be saved and go to Heaven? You can. Click on the link for a page that guides you through the steps in prayer to invite Christ into your life.