Oh, it was noisy! The 200 children that had come to the hobby-class picnic were hang such a good time. They were all from the city and were so enjoying the trees, grass and all the room to run in the picnic area. Some of the children didn’t have much to be happy about. Some were from broken homes, others were very poor. Saddest of all is that most of them did not know very much about the Lord Jesus Christ and were not saved. Some of them had only heard about Him at the hobby classes.
After a good hot-dog picnic lunch, the children sang some well-known Sunday school songs, and then one of the teachers spoke.
“I am going to ask you two questions. The first question is for the boys, and the second question is for the girls. Now, be ready. Can any boy here tell me if it is bad boys or good boys that God loves?”
Before he had even finished the question, many hands went up and voices shouted, “Good, good, good!”
Looking over at the girls the teacher asked, “Well, now, can any girl tell me how many good boys are here?”
The girls looked over to where most of the boys were sitting. No one spoke. Finally one little girl whispered, “None.”
“How do you know that?” asked the teacher.
“Because the Bible says so,” came the reply.
“Yes,” said the teacher. “In the Bible we read in Romans 3:12 That ‘There is none that doeth good, no, not one.’ If it were only good boys and girls that God loves, there would be no one that He could love. All of us are sinners, and unless we are saved we will never go to heaven. Every boy and girl in the world needs to be saved, and this comes only by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Now, what do we have to do?”
“Pray,” called one of the boys. “For what?” asked the teacher. “To be saved and get to heaven,”
the boy answered.
“And are you sure that will take you there?” asked the teacher. But the boy did not answer.
“Can any girl tell me, who does God love?” the teacher asked, turning again to the girls.
“Sinners,” came the answer. “And who is a sinner?”
“All of us,” came the answer.
“That’s it!” exclaimed the teacher. “Everyone is a sinner—boys and girls, fathers and mothers, too. God loves everyone!”
“Now another question: Was it good children or bad children that Christ died for?”
“Sinners," was the answer again.
“Yes, now you’re getting it. And who is it that Jesus saves?” he asked.
“Sinners who believe on Him,” came the answer from a girl about 12 years old.
“How do you know that?” the teacher asked the girl who had answered.
“Because Jesus says so,” she replied.
“Yes, that’s it,” said the teacher. “We read in John 3:16 that ‘Whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ "
Turning to the children again he said, “Each of you knows that you are a sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners. Each one of you can be saved by accepting Him right now into your hearts as your Saviour. Don’t wait any longer! Accept Him now!”
The meeting came to a close and most of the children ran off to play more games. The teacher went up to the 12-year-old girl who had answered correctly and asked her if she were saved. He learned she had trusted in Jesus as her Saviour just two weeks before and she was very happy.
Each of you reading this should right now ask yourself if you are saved. God loves you so much He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross to save you. Like this girl, will you trust Him? If so, you will be saved and be happy, too.
“Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” Proverbs 16:20.
ML-10/18/1981