Free money from Pastor Chuck and a free gift from God
Can getting free money teach us something about accepting Jesus?
Pastor Chuck was handing out money at church on Sunday! First, he handed out a few dollar bills he drew himself. They didn’t really look like dollar bills at all and certainly wouldn’t work if you brought them to the store. Next, he handed out photocopies of dollar bills. They looked more like legal tender, but weren’t quite the right color and weren’t quite the right size. If you brought those bills to the store and tried to pay for candy with them, the cashiers definitely wouldn’t accept them. Finally, he brought out a legit $5 bill and asked who wanted it. By now, most of the kids were somewhat skeptical of Pastor Chuck’s money and were a bit slow to raise their hands. But one little girl shot her hand up despite her past disappointment and got to leave church $5 richer.
What was that all about?
Pastor Chuck explained that to take the real money, you’d have to 1) believe it was real money and 2) believe that if he gave it to you, it would really be yours.
That’s what it’s like to trust Jesus. Pastor Chuck gave that $5 bill away for free. That little girl didn’t have to DO anything in order to receive the money, just like we don’t have to DO anything to receive Jesus as our Savior. The money was a free gift, and that’s what it’s like to have faith. To become a Christian is accepting a free gift from God, and that free gift is Heaven for ever and ever and ever. That’s a whole lot better that $5. God is good, and we need to believe that He will give exactly what He’s promised to give us: Heaven. And it’s all because of Jesus, not because of anything we do.
Remember Abraham in the Old Testament? Abraham wanted a family. He wanted descendants. God told him to go count the stars, and that his descendants would number like the stars in the sky. Abraham believed God and God credited it to Abraham as righteousness. That was a free gift to Abraham.
Prayer
Thank you, God, that salvation is a free gift. Thank you for the free gift to Abraham, that he believed what you said, and you credited to him as righteousness. We pray that we understand this free gift and receive it eagerly.
About the Redeemer Community Church PCA children's devotions:
Sometimes it can be hard to break down Biblical truths for our kids into easy-to-understand and easy-to-remember bite-sized pieces. Pastor Chuck does this weekly in his Children's Sermon, and we're sharing key points from those sermons here each week. Feel free to use with your littles as conversation starters throughout the week, reminders of what we learned in church on Sundays, and just general opportunities to share our love of God's word and His love for us.
Redeemer Community Church PCA is a Presbyterian church in Ocala, FL.