A MISSIONARY was once addressing a group of school boys and girls in the Bahamas. “Children,” he began. “I am going to talk with you this afternoon a little about bees —Bible bees. What do bees remind you of?”
There was no answer, so he continued: “I know you do not keep bees here in the islands as we do up north, but most of you have read something about bees at school or in books. What do bees produce?
“Honey,” said a number of voices. “That’s right—honey! What else, now, do bees do, sometimes?”
“They stings, sir,” said a bright-eyed boy.
“Yes, they sting. Now what else do they do?”
No one seemed able to answer, so he asked again, “What else do bees do besides making honey and stinging boys and girls who come too close to their hives or nests? What are they noted for?”
There was quite a long silence, and then the school-teacher’s daughter answered, “Work?” in a questioning kind of tone, as if she were not quite certain.
“That’s it,” said the missionary. “Bees are noted for their industry, or hard working. You know the lines beginning:
‘How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour
By gathering honey all the day,
From every opening flower.’
“Now I am going to speak to you of three Scripture bees—a stinging bee, a honey bee, and a working bee. The stinging bee is mentioned in Numbers 32:2323But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23). Millie Jones will read the last clause of the verse for us. Read loud and distinctly so that all can hear, please.”
A delicate looking girl stood and read from her Bible,
“And be sure your sin will find you out.”
“That is the stinging bee,” said the missionary. “The thought that all men’s sins will someday be found out and brought to light stings the conscience. It should make every boy and girl here this afternoon tremble. You have all sinned and I hope this ‘bee’ will sting you hard this afternoon, if those sins are not washed away by the blood of Jesus. And when we think of all our sins it is painful especially when we think of our secret sins. Someday, children, all will be found out. You may now hide them from your teachers and from your parents, but you cannot hide them from God.”
Then after talking a little more about this “bee” the missionary went on, “We will now hear about a honeybee of Scripture. Mary, will you read the text I gave you—Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).” Mary rose to her feet, and read her verse: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
“We call that the honeybee,” said the missionary, “because it yields such sweetness to those who have been stung by the ‘bee’ that Millie first read about. The Philippian jailer was stung by that ‘bee’ when he fell trembling before the apostles in prison, crying, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And the ‘bee’ they told him of was so sweet to his soul that he ‘rejoiced,’ it is said, ‘believing in God with all his house.’ “
Mary and some others present knew both of those “bees” as they thought of their own experience, and she thought the missionary spoke very beautifully of faith in Christ as the only means of being saved. That “be saved” was a very sweet one to her soul and she was almost sorry when he called for the third and last “bee.” It was in 1 Corinthians 15:5858Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58). A Christian girl Sandra read it: “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
“This is the working ‘bee,’” said the missionary. “We are first convicted or stung by the first ‘bee.’ Then we believe on Christ as our Saviour, who died on the cross for all our sins and put them away forever, so that God can say of all who believe, ‘Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.’ We have only to believe to ‘be saved.’ But after we are saved, the Lord has a work for us to do, to serve Him, our blessed Master, the little while He leaves us here on earth, before He takes us home to heaven. Those of you who know the second ‘bee,’ do not forget the last ‘bee.’ There is a little verse that goes like this—
‘I would not work, my soul to save,
For that my Lord hath done;
But I would work like any slave,
For love to God’s dear Son.’”
There are many ways in which we can work for the Lord—as in seeking to live for Him at home, at school or at play, helping our parents, visiting sick and aged folks, carrying things to the poor, distributing gospel tracts and papers, and so on.
Dear young friends, let us not forget these three texts: “Be sure your sins will find you out.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
ML-03/22/1964