JUNIOR KING'S BUSINESS
HEARTS AND BIRTHDAYS
F e b r u a r y is our shortest month, and yet it holds many important dates for those of you who are in school. Why, this is the month when the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are remem bered, isn’t it? And this is the month, too, when you have a valentine box at school- and fill it with many col ored hearts for your schoolmates. Yes, February is the month for birthdays and hearts! Of course each of you can tell the day and month of your birthday. Some of you may have yours in Feb ruary — perhaps on the very days when we are remembering George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But, dear boys and girls, have you ever had a second birthday? Let us see what is meant. Your first birthday is the date when you came into your home as a child of your mother and father, isn’t it? You had life, and could cry and move. How happy your coming made your par ents! You became a member of the family and received a name. Yes, it was a very happy day in your home when you were born. But your second birthday •— oh, what an important date it is in the life of every boy or girl! It marks the time when you became a member of God’s family by receiving the Lord Jesus as your own Saviour, for “ as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). This second birthday, then, is the date on which you opened your heart's door and let the Lord Jesus come in to make your sinful heart pure and white, to wash away all of your sins in His precious blood, and to give you the gift of everlasting life. Your name, too, was entered in God’s fam ily book, “ the Lamb’s book of life.” It was then that you received a new name, the name of “ Christian,” and became a “ new creation” in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17, R. V., margin). What a wonderful date this was in your life! Now if there is a boy or girl who is reading our Junior page who has had only one birthday, won’t you let' today become your second birthday? The Lord Jesus is knocking at your heart’s door, longing to come in and be your Saviour. He is saying: “ Be hold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I w ill come in . . .” (hev 3:20).
A N old herdsman in England was i taken to a London hospital. He was very ill, and the doctors gave no hope of his recovery. His grand child often used to come to see him, and she would then read to him out of the Bible. One day she came to the words, “ And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1 :7 ). The old man raised himself up and stopped the little girl, saying with great ear nestness : “ Is that there, my dear?” “ Yes, Grandpa,” she replied, “ it is.” “ Then,” said he, “ read it to me again. I have never heard it before.” She read it again. “ You are quite sure it is written there?” he said again. “ Yes, quite sure, Grandpa,” was the child’s answer. “ Then take my hand, and lay my finger on the passage, for I want to feel it.” She took the old blind man’s hand and placed his bony finger on the verse, when he said, “ Now read it to me again.” With a soft, sweet voice she read, “ And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Again he asked her eagerly, “ And you are not making a mistake: you are perfectly sure that is in the Bible?” “Yes, perfectly certain, Grandpa.” “ Then,” said the old man, sinking back on his pillow, “ if any one should ask how I died, tell them I died in
the faith of those words, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.’ ” Soon after that, he passed away, peaceful and happy in the sense of all his sin being put away by that one perfect sacrifice. Now get out your Bible, boys and girls and open it up at the passage the little girl read to her grandpa. Have you all got your Bibles handy? Now open to the New Testament and to the Epistle of John, not the Gos pel of John. Find Epistle number one and chapter one. Now run your finger down the verses and stop at verse seven. Are you there? Then hold your finger on the verse and let us read it together. “ And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Will you believe that? Will you accept this love offering that Jesus Christ made for you? Say “ thank you” to Him for it and believe that He has cleansed you because you have faith in the work He did. Have you said “ thank you” ? Then listen. “ As many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God.” That passage is in John also, but in the Gospel of John. It is chapter one also, but verse twelve, not seven. Is it not wonderful that God gives us the privilege of becoming His children? This is made possible through the shed blood of Jesus for sinners. Let us now go out to tell everybody how happy we are that we are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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