{"id":9222,"date":"2020-09-10T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/?p=9222"},"modified":"2020-09-10T14:17:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T19:17:54","slug":"undeserved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/pt\/undeserved\/","title":{"rendered":"Undeserved"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

By John Maust<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a dollar bill that I\u2019m going to give to one of you,\u201d Mr. Sechrist told us kids, suddenly alert, at summer vacation Bible School.<\/p>\n

This was nearly 60 years ago, a time when five cents could get you a soft drink at the local soda fountain, a pack of baseball cards, or candy at the movie theater, a time when a dollar meant something to a bunch of sweaty kids attending Bible school in little Nappanee, Indiana.<\/p>\n

We wanted that dollar, badly. But who would be the lucky one to receive it?<\/p>\n

Dick Sechrist, a retired mail carrier, had an astounding knowledge of Scripture. When our pastor sometimes began Sunday evening services with a few Bible quiz questions for the congregation, we rolled our eyes knowing that Dick would be first with all the right answers.\u00a0 Yet even with all that knowledge, he knew how to teach the Bible in ways that kids could understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho really wants this dollar?\u201d Mr. Sechrist asked us.\u00a0 Arms waved wildly like trees in a tornado.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe! Me! Me!\u201d all voices said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut who do you think I should give it to?\u201d\u00a0 Mr. Sechrist said.\u00a0 It looked like the greenest, crispest dollar we had ever seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe! Me! Me!\u201d everyone cried again.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sechrist didn\u2019t say anything for a moment, which seemed like hours.\u00a0 He looked around the room, a smile at the corners of his mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarry!\u201d our teacher said.\u00a0 \u201cPlease come up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larry vaulted from his desk and approached Mr. Sechrist, who handed him the dollar bill just like that, no questions asked.<\/p>\n

How was this possible?\u00a0 What did Larry do to deserve this?\u00a0 Surely, one of us deserved it more.\u00a0 Larry beamed and held the bill high running back to his seat. You can imagine the looks that he got, and none of them were friendly.<\/p>\n

It took awhile for Mr. Sechrist to restore our attention.\u00a0 But when he did, he proceeded to explain that the dollar for Larry was simply a gift, no strings attached and for no merit of Larry\u2019s.<\/p>\n

In the same way, salvation in Christ was a gift, he said.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t earn it, just as we couldn\u2019t earn that dollar now scrunched in Larry\u2019s pocket.\u00a0 It was all grace, nothing that we deserved.<\/p>\n

Then Mr. Sechrist read to us a passage from the Bible, most likely in the King James:\u00a0 \u201cFor by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

He let us ponder that for awhile, and then explained that we could pray with him to invite Jesus into our hearts at any time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t recall that anyone did at that moment, but Mr. Sechrist\u2019s illustration certainly stuck in our minds\u2014in my case, for the past six decades.<\/p>\n

Are we as global Christian communicators making effective use of illustrations to bring spiritual truth to life in the minds and hearts of our readers?\u00a0 Are we finding just the right metaphor, simile, story or parable that with God\u2019s help will move someone a step closer from darkness to light?<\/p>\n

\"\"I thank God for Mr. Sechrist\u2019s\u00a0 teaching and for graphically introducing me to this amazing and liberating truth: eternal life in Christ is entirely a gift from God, not the result of anything we could ever possibly do to earn it.<\/p>\n

John D. Maust became president of MAI in 1998 after more than 20 years\u2019 experience as an editor and journalist. He worked 10 years as editor of the award-winning <\/em>Latin America Evangelist magazine, published by Latin America Mission. He also spent four years in Peru as a missionary journalist. And he was assistant\u00a0news editor of <\/span><\/span><\/em>Christianity Today<\/span><\/span> magazine and editor of a small-town Indiana weekly newspaper. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Top photo by Rene Bernal<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Maust \u201cI have a dollar bill that I\u2019m going to give to one of you,\u201d Mr. Sechrist told us kids, suddenly alert, at summer vacation Bible School. This was nearly 60 years ago, a time when five cents could get you a soft drink at the local soda fountain, a pack of baseball […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[631,307,308,394,12,46],"tags":[628,219,640,641],"class_list":["post-9222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-christian-writer","category-devotional","category-john-maust","category-mai","category-writing-resources","tag-christian-story","tag-christian-writing","tag-evangelistic-writing","tag-salvation-by-grace"],"yoast_head":"\nUndeserved - Media Associates International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/pt\/undeserved\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pt_BR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Undeserved - Media Associates International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John Maust \u201cI have a dollar bill that I\u2019m going to give to one of you,\u201d Mr. Sechrist told us kids, suddenly alert, at summer vacation Bible School. 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