Bert was a young boy, active and full of energy, as most young boys are. He liked to be busy and was often in the basement of the big family home tinkering with an old motor or working on some other project. His father sometimes took Bert and his brothers fishing in the bay. Each boy had to take his turn at the oars in the rowboat. They tried to make every stroke count, because it was hard work. But the hard work usually rewarded them with fish, often a gunnysack full of fluke, porgies or weakfish. Bert loved boats and would stand on the dock just watching them come and go. The harbor near his home was one of the busiest in the world, so there was lots to see.
One day at school Bert’s friend, Walter, reached into his pocket and pulled out something and showed it to Bert. “My father is teaching me how to carve,” he said as he held up a little block of wood just beginning to take the shape of a boat. Bert was immediately interested. How he wished his father knew how to carve. Each day he hurried to school eager to see how the boat was coming along. Sometimes as he held it he would run his fingers over its small shape, feeling the little dips and grooves from the carving tools and the silky-smooth sides already carefully sanded. He wished it were his. How proud he would be to have a little boat just like that.
One day after school when the boat was finished, Bert said to Walter, “How much would you sell your little boat for?”
His friend looked at him and answered, “It’s not for sale.” Then reaching over he placed the little boat in Bert’s hands and said with a smile, “But you may have it.”
Bert stood there a moment looking at the boat. It was too good to be true. Then he thought of all the hours of work and patience, all the careful carving and sanding. “I can’t just take it,” he said. “You’ve spent so much time making it. I’ll pay you for it.”
The smile left Walter’s face. With an indignant look he reached for the boat. “It’s not for sale,” he repeated.
Bert kicked at the pebbles as he walked home. He was upset with himself. Why hadn’t he just taken the boat and said thanks? Walter had wanted him to have it or he wouldn’t have offered it to him. Why did he think he had to pay for it? Now he really felt ashamed, but it was too late. It was a gift that he had refused by trying to pay for it.
Bert’s father and mother were Christians and prayed that their children would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. God is also offering a gift, and money cannot buy it, either. He is offering a pardon from the punishment our sins deserve. He can offer this to us because the Lord Jesus paid the punishment we deserve when He died on Calvary’s cross. Bert usually went to Sunday school, but it was not until he was 14 years old that he began to think seriously about that great and wonderful gift that God had offered him. His heart was touched, and in faith he reached out to accept that gracious gift. He did not deserve to have it, and he could not buy it, but he has thanked God many times for it. The little boat was offered once, but God offers His gift day after day. One day very soon this gift will no longer be offered. What will that day be for you? Will it be a happy day because you accepted His gift, or will it be a terribly sad day because you refused His gift and then have to take God’s punishment for sin yourself?
The years have passed and Bert has learned to carve boats, too. He has also taught other little boys to carve boats. He still loves to watch the boats come and go, but most of all he loves to tell of the “greatest gift of all” which is everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And it is not for sale. Bert never forgot the lesson he learned from his friend Walter.
ML-02/07/1982