A PRICELESS PORTRAIT

A rich man had a passion for collecting great works of art. He had a huge collection of exquisite and expensive paintings created by world-renowned painters. Everyone envied his priceless collection. He had an only son whom he loved more than anything. His wife died during the child’s birth and a loving nurse looked after the boy during his infancy. But the boy died young. The man made a fine portrait of his only son which he preserved as a treasure. Before the rich man died, he prepared a will and entrusted his faithful lawyer to execute it.

The lawyer announced the auction of the rich man’s possessions. A huge crowd had gathered, anxious to bid for the famous paintings at the lowest possible price. The lawyer announced that as per the will, the first article to be bid was the portrait of the rich man’s only son. There was a silence. Only one person - an old woman dressed in shabby clothes came forward to bid for the son’s portrait. She was the boy’s nurse from his infancy and wanted to keep the picture as a mark of her affection to the child. As she was very poor, she could offer only a small sum of money. But as there was no one to bid for a higher amount, she was declared to have won the bid.

The crowd made a loud demand to start the bid of the expensive paintings. But then, to the surprise of everyone, the lawyer declared that the auction was over. He then read aloud a secret stipulation in the will of the rich man, “Whoever comes forward and wins in the bid to possess the portrait of my beloved son shall be declared as the legal owner of all my possessions.” Thus the poor, loving lady became the legal heir to the whole assets of the rich man.

Here we see that the one who accepted the son got the Father’s entire assets. It illustrates the infinite riches we inherit from our heavenly Father when we are ready to accept Jesus, His only Son, into our hearts. We then gain entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.

“For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not die, but have eternal life” {John 3:16}.

“God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in His Son. Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I am writing this to you so that you may know that you have eternal life - you that believe in the Son of God” {1 John 5:11-13}.

“If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, who did not even keep back His own Son, but offered Him for us all! He gave us His Son - will He not also freely give us all things?” {Romans 8:32}.

© By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India. For more moral stories, parables and anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit my web-site: http://www.moralstorieschristian.blogspot.com