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Themes: "The Cost of Salvation, Christ the Saviour, Grace JH Mark Twain was a famous American author who wrote close to the time of the Civil War. He is famous for his books like HUCKLEBERRY FINN and TOM SAWYER. you've probably heard of these stories, but you may never have heard of one called THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER.
This was a story that Mark Twain wrote about two little boys. They were just about the same age, and they looked a whole lot alike. One of the boys was a prince, and the other one was a pauper. Now I know you know what a prince is, but you may not know what a pauper is. A pauper is someone who is very poor and who is considered a very common sort of person.
In Mark Twain's story, these two boys meet and talk about their lives. Each one envies the other. The prince thinks it would be great to roam free in the village, play with other boys, and not have to study or make decisions. The pauper would love to live in a luxurious palace, get plenty to eat, and have a warm place to sleep at night.
The boys decide to switch places with each other. They exchange clothes, and spend some time pretending to be each other. The prince realizes that he doesn't like having to worry about getting enough to eat and having to work hard to help the family make money. And the pauper realizes that he doesn't like all the studying and decision-making that the prince has to do.
These boys learned that their own situations weren't as bad as they thought they were, and that the situation of the other wasn't as good as they expected it to be. This is a valuable lesson, but there is an even more valuable lesson involved here.
When the Lord Jesus came as a baby to the stable in Bethlehem, do you know what happened? The Prince became a Pauper! Before He came to earth, the Lord Jesus was with the Father in heaven. No palace on earth can even begin to compare with the greatness and majesty of God's heaven. The Lord Jesus left that place of perfection, and came to this world where He was poor and rejected.
Do you know why He came? It was so that you, a pauper, could become a prince! Because of your sins, you are spiritually poor. You have nothing to give to God. However, because the Lord Jesus came and took the punishment for your sins, you can become a child of God and dwell in heaven eternally.
The Prince became a pauper, so that you could become a prince. Why not accept what He did for you? "Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His
poverty might be rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9).
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