Lori never expected a bike for her birthday. But that is just what Grandpa bought her — a bright blue tricycle. She rode it outside in nice weather, and she rode it in the basement in bad weather. However, there was something Lori liked almost as much as her bike. It was her mother’s old sewing basket. Mother had told Lori she could have it for her bike to keep things in, and that is just what she did. Daddy mounted it on the front of the bike for her. Now when she found something she wanted to keep, into the basket it would go. Then she would snap down the cover and know it was safe. Sometimes she showed these “treasures” to special friends, but she was always careful to tuck them all safely back into her basket again.
One morning Lori was riding her bike on the sidewalk in front of her house. Mr. Winston, their next-door neighbor, stopped to talk to her. Looking over her new bike and admiring it, he asked her what she carried in the basket. Lori opened it up to show him her “special things.” He could see pieces of ribbon and cloth, buttons, a few shiny stones and some pictures. There were other things, too, but he could not tell what they were.
“Well, Lori,” he said, “I see you have lots of treasures in your basket. Have you ever thought of putting treasures in heaven?”
Now “treasures” was a big word for Lori, but she knew it meant something valuable and worth keeping. So she answered, “No, Mr. Winston. How do you do that?”
“It’s this way, Lori,” he explained. “You love your little basket of play things, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do,” answered Lori.
“You would feel very sad if your basket were lost and you never found it again, wouldn’t you?”
“Oh, yes! I don’t ever want to lose my basket of special things!” Lori said thinking about it.
“That’s just it, Lori. The Lord Jesus Christ says, ‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ You love your basket of precious things. They belong to you, and you like them very much. But someday they will be gone.
“In the same way the Lord Jesus loves you and wants to be your Treasure, Lori. He died for your sins, if you will accept Him as your Saviour. He wants you to love Him and trust Him, and He will never leave you. If you come to the Lord Jesus and ask Him to save you, He will be your Treasure, and you will be His treasure — He will belong to you, and you will belong to Him.”
Lori listened to everything Mr. Winston said. She went to Sunday school every week and learned about the Lord Jesus. She knew that her father and mother loved Him. She memorized a Bible verse each week and prayed every night before she climbed into bed. But she knew she did not have the Treasure that Mr. Winston was talking about.
This little talk with Mr. Winston started Lori thinking. It was not long before she decided that she wanted the Lord Jesus to be her Treasure and asked Him to forgive her sins and be her Saviour.
How many of you boys and girls are so busy with things going on around you that you have forgotten about the Treasure that is in heaven? The Lord Jesus Christ cares for you and wants to save you. He died on the cross for sinners. If you know that you are a sinner, and accept Him as your Saviour, then you can say, “He died for me.” Why not accept Him as your Saviour right now?
ML-09/27/1987