The Dead Stick
(Taken from "The Keys for Kids")
As David got close to Mr. Gordon's house, he saw his Sunday school teacher planting
fruit trees in his backyard. "Good morning, David," said Mr. Gordon. "How
are you doing?"
"Okay, I guess," muttered David. He shuffled his toe in the dirt. "But
I'm always getting into trouble at school," he added with a sigh. "Since I've
been coming to your Sunday school class, I've been trying to change and be good . . . but
I just can't seem to do it."
Mr. Gordon leaned on his spade. "Have you trusted the Lord Jesus as your personal
Savior, David?" he asked.
"Well . . . no, I guess not," he admitted. "I've heard you talk about
that in class, but I don't really understand it. I thought if I'd just go to church and
read the Bible and start living better, I'd be all right."
Mr. Gordon picked up a small, dead branch that had fallen from a tree. "I'm
planting fruit trees," he said. "I'm going to water them and put fertilizer
around them. One day, they'll bear juicy peaches and apples for me to eat. Why don't you
help me plant this . . . it's a branch that broke off an apple tree."
David laughed. "You're kidding," he said. "That's a dead stick."
Mr. Gordon looked at the stick. "But I'll treat it just like all the other trees,
and then when I get fruit from it, I'll share some with you, David."
"I still think you're kidding," said David. "That stick will never have
any fruit. It's dead."
"That's true," Mr. Gordon agreed. "This stick has no life . . . it
can't produce fruit. And you know what, David? If you haven't accepted Jesus as Savior,
you're like this stick . . . you don't have True Life. You say you're trying to change and
be good, but even though you read the Bible and go to church and pray, you can't produce
the fruit of a Christian life because you don't have Christ within you."
Mr. Gordon smiled at David. "Would you like to hear again how you can receive
real life through Christ?" he asked.
Solemnly, David nodded.
How about you? Do you try hard to be good, only to fail? You can't live the Christian
life if you don't have life . . . the Lord Jesus . . . within you. Ask Him to save you
now.
Romans 8:2 "for the law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."
Receive Christ today!
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