September, 1939
TH E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
341
Junior Kings Business By MARTHA S. HOOKER
THE STORY OF THE DOLLAR BILL By W illiam W . O rr *
I T WAS the time for the object les son in the big downtown church. There were many children in the congregation, and three thousand adults besides. The large chorus choir was seated behind the pulpit, facing the auditorium, and now the minister was speaking. “I have asked one of our boys,” he said, “to help me with the object lesson this morning, and now if he will come to the platform, we will proceed.” Yes, the boy was coming down from the first balcony. He was just a small dark-eyed lad about nine years old. Many of the church members knew him as jlrry . Now he was on the platform, and the minister lifted him up on the table usually in use at the object lesson time. There Jerry was, just a little fel low, feeling smaller still with three thousand pairs of eyes watching him. “Now I have in my hand,” the minis ter was saying, “a real dollar bill. See it?” Yes, it was real, one of Uncle Sam’s paper bills. “And how would you like to have it? You could buy just lots of things with it —pencils, marbles, skates, candy, sodas—oh, just lots of things. And now, I am going to give it to you, Jerry— but just wait a minute . . . “You think that a dollar bill is a lot of money, don’t you?” the speaker con tinued. “Well, I want to tell you that God offers us something of far greater value than just a dollar bill. God offers us everlasting life, an inheritance, the forgiveness of our sins, eternal happi ness, and fellowship with Him—all en tirely free! What do you think of that?” Well, Jerry had heard about this in Sunday-school, but some of the big words had been entirely over his small head. But in his heart he often knew that he had done wrong things and needed God’s forgiveness. “Now,” and the minister was address ing him again, “you don’t really think that I’m going to give you this dollar bill, do you? Why should I? It’s mine, and you haven’t earned it, and why should I give it to you—that is, unless I thought a great deal of you?” And though the little fellow’s lips didn’t move, still you could see that he thoroughly agreed with the sentiment *Director of Christian E d u c a t i o n , Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles, Calif,
of this speech. After all, this was the way things were in the world. People did not go around giving away dollar bills. But the boy listened again as the speaker added, “So why should God give us all these things He offers us, for after all, we haven’t earned them, and they aren’t ours. Why should He give us these things—that is, unless He loved us a great deal? But it is true that I am going to give you this money. I’ve already said I will, and I’m going to say that you may have it if you will take it. But, you think I’m fooling, don’t you?” And very slowly, but quite plainly, you could see Jerry’s small head move in agreement, and a piece of a smile was beginning to play about the comers of his mouth. For after all, he had never heard of any one’s giving away per fectly good dollar bills! This evidently was just a joke, and he felt that he wasn’t going to be caught. By this time the whole audience was waiting breathlessly. Hardly a soul was stirring, and every one seemed just as much interested in what was going to happen to that dollar bill as was the boy whose eyes had hardly left it. “But,” continued the minister, "God is really and truly offering us all these wonderful things we talked about a bit ago—the forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life through the Lord Jesus A Welcome to the Children Open the door for the children, Tenderly gather them in; In from the highways and hedges, In from the places of sin. * * * Pray you the Father to bless them, Pray you that grace may be giv’n; Open the door for the children, “Of such is the kingdom of heav’n.” —Selected.
as the One who died for our sins. And God offers these things on just one con dition. Why, He says so here in His Word, that all we need to do to obtain eternal life and the wonders that He has prepared for us is to trust Him, to believe that what He says He will ful fill: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ But, do you know, many people won’t do that; they won’t trust Him; they won’t believe Him. Just think! God is' offering them all the great and marvelous bless ings simply on the condition that they take them, and they won’t take them— because they won’t believe that God is true. “But I am going to test you to see whether you really believe me to be an honest man. I have said that I am going1 to give yqu this dollar bill, and if you believe that I will do what I say, I want you—but wait. I’m going over to the other edge of the platform, ’way over here by the piano, and I’m going to stand here. And if you believe that I will give you the dollar bill as I have
Illustration. by Ransom D . Marvin
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