_"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."_
A little girl, daughter of a Western banker, was anxious to bring her
father to Jesus, but he always said, when she talked with him on the
subject, that he was too busy at the bank and did not have time to
think of religion. This troubled the little girl greatly, because she
knew her father's soul was in danger if he did not give his heart to
Jesus. It seemed to her as if he had given his heart to the bank and
not to God.
One night the little girl went to bed with a troubled mind, and in
her sleep had this strange dream. She thought her father came
down-stairs one morning and said that when he awoke he discovered
somewhere that during the night he had lost his heart. He could not
feel it beating in his breast, and therefore was sure some power had
taken it away from him, and he was without a heart. The little girl
thought, in her dream, that she heard all the family laugh at this
strange story of Daddy, and they said, "Father must have lost his
mind," if he thought he had lost his heart, but he only said, putting
his hand upon his breast, "My heart is not here, I have lost it
somewhere." The little girl was greatly troubled because she thought
it was a sure sign that her father would soon die, because he could
not live without a heart. Then in her dream a good angel came to her
and said: "Dear little girl, your father is right. He has indeed lost
his heart. He loves his gold, he loves it so much that he has given
himself to the bank and forgotten God. Now, little girl, you can help
your father find his heart again, for I am going to tell you where
his heart has gone." The angel said: "On yonder shelf you will see a
little iron bank; open it up, and you will find buried beneath the
coins of this bank your father's heart." She did as the good angel
directed, and there, sure enough, amidst the copper and silver coins,
she found her Daddy's heart. She was very glad indeed at this find,
and in her great joy she awoke from her dream. The next day she told
her father this dream which she had had the previous night. He
listened to it thoughtfully and said something about foolish little
girls who think out strange things in their sleep, and then he turned
toward his bank and spent another day, amidst his banking books. But
all day long his thoughts were upon his little girl and her foolish
dream, but the more he thought about it the less foolish it seemed to
him, and at last he said to himself: "Dear little dreamer, God was
talking to you in your sleep and was talking to me also. It is true I
have lost my heart. It is buried under the gold of my bank. I have
loved my gold more than God, and have given my bank my heart. The
Good Book says, 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also.' My treasure is in my bank. There is my heart also." This
message from Dreamland caused him to give his heart to God, and he
became a Christian, and then he let God keep his heart for him, and
so Jesus found the father's heart and kept it for him forevermore.
To illustrate this, secure a small toy iron bank such as children use
for the safe keeping of their pennies. Cut out a piece of cardboard
the shape of a heart, and put this inside of the little bank, and at
the proper time in the story draw it out and show the children that
the bank contained the father's heart, covered up with the money.
This money stands for the treasure of the people, and there you will
find the people's hearts also. You can also paste upon this heart a
number of pennies, so that when you take the heart out it will be
literally covered with the treasures. What must be done with this
heart that it may be separated from the treasures of gold which will
separate the heart forever from heaven? It must be brought to Jesus
and a new heart will be given in exchange. Although this heart
covered with the gold of this world is therefore very attractive to
most people, it is as black as night in the sight of God and the
angels.
There was once a boy named William. He was in the habit of doing
wicked things. Once he told a great lie about his classmate because
he was angry at him, and the teacher punished this classmate,
believing that what William said was true. At the next recess William
noticed that the scholars kept away from him and looked at him as if
they were frightened, but he did not think much of this. When he went
back to school that afternoon he saw his teacher looking at him very
strangely, and when he went home his mother looked at him and burst
into tears. William then ran up into his little room to look himself
over and stood before the mirror to see if he could determine what
was the matter, and there he saw a terrible sight. By some mysterious
power he had become so transparent that his heart showed right out
from his body through his thick clothing, and it was a dreadfully
black one. His coat was black, but it looked quite white compared
with the blackness of his heart that was piercing through his coat,
and when he saw this he was ashamed to go out, and hung his head
whenever he passed any of his classmates, He tried to run into dark
corners where people could not see his heart, but he could not find
any hiding-place dark enough to hide his black heart. At last with
tears in his eyes he ran to his mother and asked what he should do.
He confessed to his mother the big lie he told about his classmate.
His mother now led him to the mirror when he had finished his sad
story. She said: "See, William, now that you have made this
confession, your heart is less black than it was before. I think it
will become entirely white if you pray to Jesus to forgive you. Tell
your classmate and teacher and the scholars how sorry you are."
William said to himself, "I will." That night he prayed long and
earnestly and when the morning had come he was astonished to see how
much lighter his heart had grown. This pleased him very much and he
said: "I don't think I will trouble any more about my heart. It is
growing so much lighter that I think the last remnant of the
blackness will pass away in a day." So he ran off to school very
gladly, but his teacher looked at him very strangely, and the
classmates all shrank and ran away from him and he said he was ill
and must go home. When he got to his room and looked in the mirror he
saw his heart with more intense blackness than ever before. So that
night he prayed very earnestly to Jesus to take away his black heart.
In the morning he ran off to school in great haste. As soon as the
school was opened, he arose before all the scholars and told what a
dreadful thing he had done and asked their forgiveness. They all
forgave him gladly, and at recess everybody was kind to him and
played with him, and best of all when he got home and looked in the
mirror he found that there was no great black heart showing through.
He was a happy boy again, just as he had been before he told the
terrible lie. This little story teaches the big lesson that the
sinful black heart can only be made right by bringing it to Jesus.
To illustrate this you open the Bible to some great promise of
forgiveness of sin, and place the heart on that promise, and close
the Bible. So the sinful heart is now taken away. You open the Bible
again at another promise of forgiveness of sin, and there take out of
it a white heart, which you have put in there previously, and say,
"This represents the heart of forgiveness." You place it back in the
Bible and close the Bible tight, and say, "My heart have I hid in his
word, and it is safe there forever more, and in his keeping it can
never be lost again."
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"BRIGHTEN YOUR CORNER AS A BUSINESS"
OBJECT: An Old-fashioned Candlestick with a Small
Candle in It=
Some years ago an old friend of mine put into my hands an ancient
candlestick containing a short stump of a candle. It was an old
homestead relic. The good lady had used it in her childhood, and her
mother had used it in her early days also. It was at least
seventy-five years old, and had not been lighted for more than fifty
years. It had been stowed away in the old garret and forgotten, until
one day it was taken with other common things from its dusty
hiding-place, and fell into my hands. At once I lit the stump of
candle, and it sent forth its golden light again just as it did fifty
years ago. It seemed to say to me, "I will always shine whenever I
get the chance." I do not say, as some of you humans of the day, "If
you had no better place for me than a dark corner in a garret, if you
have forgotten me, and failed to recognize my place in the world, I
won't shine for you now." No. "But I will shine for you or anybody
that will put the taper to my heart. It is my business to shine. I
cannot do anything else."
I have often seen folks unlike this old candle. If they cannot be
first in the work they won't help at all. If somebody else is asked
to take part, and they are not, they sulk about it, refuse to join in
and work. If they are asked to do something that some other person
has been asked to do, and refused, they say: "Play second fiddle! I
guess not!" The New Testament tells us of a proud man who loved to
have the prominent place among them. This is not a Christian spirit.
Jesus said, "If any man will be great among you, let him be your
servant." Brighten your corner as a business. This is the business of
the Christian--to shine. The candle can do nothing more than this. It
shines just as it is. It never tries to be an electric light, or to
do the work of electricity, but is content to do its own work, and
that is the work of a candle, just to shine as a business. The
electric light gives ten, fifteen, forty candle-power light. The
electric power turns washing machines, runs vacuum cleaners, heats
irons, and does all sorts of things at the touch of its finger of
power. All the candle can do is to give its small-power light. But
notice how cheerful it is in the midst of darkness. It knows it
cannot do the task of electricity, so it does not fret itself about
it, but just shines and does its best to brighten the little dark
corner; that is its business--just to shine. Watch it shine, and you
will notice it puts its whole life into the business of shining.
Measure it as it shines, and you will discover it grows less and
less, and leaves nothing behind it--gives itself, and all of itself
into the business of shining. It consumes itself in the process of
shining, This is a true light picture of the Christian. Real service
requires the giving of the entire self. David Livingstone, the heart
of Africa missionary, gave all that he had and consumed all his
energies for the good of the Dark Continent. He just let his light
shine out until his body burned out, and when the natives found him
dead kneeling by his bed, they found an old worn-out body burnt out
in the business of shining in Africa's dark corner. But his light
still shines. The natives as they sit by their evening fire talk in
soft tones about the great White Chief. They are watching that White
Candle Chief burn in the jungles of their wild land. He being dead
yet shineth.
[Illustration: A Meeting of Children in the East Baptist Church,
Philadelphia (Where the Author is Pastor), Giving Attention to
Object-lessons Described in This Book]
That is the way to shine forever. Burn out here, and you will shine
forever in God's kingdom. So we learn that we are not only letting
our light shine as a business, but in so doing we light the dark
corner lights around the world. This candle I now hold in my hand can
light a thousand other candles, and they in turn another thousand,
and so on until it could light shining candles girdling the round
world. Light is contagious. It easily passes from one candle to
another.
One courageous enthusiastic person can fire many others to shine in
their dark corners also. If every one of my audience held an
unlighted candle in their hands, this one lighted candle would carry
the flame to all the candles. This room would be transfigured into a
congress of flickering stars. This is the way the kingdom of heaven
must come in. One life touches the other life, and they all shine in
their corner as their business, which is the King's business also.
But learn the first great essential lesson. This candle, to shine
forth in the dark corner as a business, must first be lit itself. It
cannot light itself. It cannot say, "Let there be light," for no
light can shine forth by a self-command. Some power greater than a
candle must touch our dark heart with its taper of flame before we
can shine forth. So we must come to the great Light of the World and
give ourselves to him, and become his disciples, and he will give us
the light which shines in our hearts, and out from our own lives.
Then we become "Candles of the Lord," and brighten the corner where
we are as a business.
In using this lesson suit your actions to your words. Secure if
possible an old-fashioned candlestick with a stump of a candle in it,
and say, "This resembles the old candlestick mentioned in the
lesson." You can use an ordinary candle for other parts of the lesson
referred to in the chapter.
You can close this lesson by asking a group of children to come to
the platform and ask them to hold a candlestick with a lighted candle
and sing together, "Brighten the Corner Where You Are."
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