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THE K I N G ' S B US I NE S S
January, 1938
Junior King's Business By M A R TH A S. HOO KER
JEAN AND JACKY FIND THE WAY By A gnes E lea n o r V o le n tin e
O NE day the twins, Jean and Jacky, stayed behind, at Vacation Bible School, to talk to the Sunshine Lady. Tears were in their eyes, for they had just heard the story of the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross. “We— we want to belong to Jesus,” began Jean.
sinners. Not because of the sin, but in spite of it. It is something like the way your mamma loves you when you’re naughty. So since God hated sin but loved us, He had to do something about it. This is what He did-------” She repeated slowly: “ ‘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’ ” (John 3:16). She explained that “ perish” means to be separated from God forever and ever, and that “ everlasting” means forever and ever, too, but here in a good way. She told them that God “ gave” His Son by letting Him take our place, and die for our sins on the cross. “ Suppose Jacky had done wrong,” said the teacher, “ and that you, Jean, felt sorry for him and said, ‘I’ll take his place— I’ll get punished for him.’ Like this—— ” Pushing Jacky to one side, she motioned Jean to the spot where he had stood: “ That,” she declared, “ is tvhat Jesus did for us— He took our place.” The Sunshine Lady now turned to the other side of the blackboard to the three empty signboards. “W e have learned,” she repeated, “ that ‘God Is Holy’ ; that ‘People Are Sinful’ ; that, though God hates sin, He loves sin ners— and that He so loved them that He gave His Son to take their punishment. “ Now,” she asked, “ how can we get this everlasting life that’s offered us?” The children shook their heads. “Well, I’ll give you the three Things to Do. Here’s the first: 4. REPENT "Repent ye therefore, and be converted." — Acts 3:19 BELIEVE "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." — Acts 16:31 “What is it to repent?” asked Jean. 1: “ It’s being sorry for sin — and sorry enough to quit. But from the way you came to me, I ’m sure you both are sorry, so we needn’t stop long there. W e’ll see what it means to ‘believe.’ ” She held out a pencil. “ I’ll give this to you children.” Jean hesitated, not sure that she meant it; but Jacky promptly took the pencil. “That’s faith—that’s believing,” said the Sunshine Lady as she smiled at Jacky.
She wrote on the next signboard:
2. PEOPLE ARE SINFUL "All have sinned."
— Romans 3:23
T h e Suns hi ne La d y looked sunshiny-er than ever. “ I’m so glad I” she cried. “ But you must ’splain ex-act-ly how,” warned Jacky. “ Nobody else ever has.” “ All right. What you want is to find the way, isn’t it? I’ll make six ‘Signboards to Salvation,’ here on the blackboard. “ First, we’ll have three Things to Understand; then, three Things to Do. And we’ll leave them there, to explain to the others tomorrow.” With her Bible in her hand, the Sunshine Lady stepped over to the black board. After drawing the outlines o f all the sign boards, three on each side, she wrote on the first:
Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts
"How did people become sinful ?” she asked. Jacky sighed. “ Seems like we were born that way.” ';' ( “ That’s right. But Adam and Eve were not born that way, were they? You know at first they were without sin. But Satan got them to disobey G °d— as you might diobey your mother. Then they felt ashamed of it, just as you do when you’ve been bad. That feeling is guilt. “And ever since,”*'she continued, “ this sinful nature has been coming down to us— down through Adam’s children, ,and their children, then on, on down, till it reached your grandparents, your own parents, and you. So when you do evil, it is because you are evil. But wait-------” On the next signboard, she wrote:
I. G O D IS HOLY "For the Lord our God is holy." — Psalm 99:9
“When you get this,” the teacher ex plained, “ it will help you understand all the rest. You see, God is so holy that He can’t allow the least sin where He is. He cannot let sin into heaven, for that is His home. So if our hearts are bad— and God knows our hearts, for He knows everything —we won’t get into heaven, either.” T o make them understand this part bet ter, she drew a heart on a sheet of white paper, then cut- it out. “ Here is a pure white heart—but wait.” Taking a black crayon, she rolled it across the heart, leaving a dirty smudge. “ Now is that heart fit to enter heaven ? No, it would spoil that beautiful, holy place, wouldn’t it?” The twins agreed. “W ell,” said the Sunshine Lady, “ we have learned that ‘God Is Holy.’ And we are about to learn something else.”
3. G O D IS LOVE
— I John 4:8
“W e learned before that ‘God Is Holy,’ and that ‘People Are Sinful.’ But,” she ex plained, “ though God hates sin, He loves
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