Print on the board a large copy of a promissory note: “For value received, I promise to pay _____ years after date, to _____________, ________________ dollars, at ________ interest per annum.” Explain to the children what this means, and fill up the blanks for an imaginary loan.
Then talk about what God has given us as a loan. The lines of the promissory note should be far apart, so that much can be written between them in colored chalk. Above the words “value received” write down, from the children’s dictation, all the common blessings, religious and secular, they will tell you about.
Now what are the children to give in return for all this? They cannot give back the same kind of things, as the borrower can return money for money. God does not want this. What does he want? By questioning, bring out what he does want,—prayers, thought, study, love, giving, etc.,—and put these words over the blank preceding “dollars” in the promissory note.
But to whom are we to pay what we owe God? God does not want us to pay it to him; he does not need it; but there are millions of his poor people who do need it. Write down, above the blank introduced by “to _____,” the classes to whom we are to repay the gifts of God: the heathen, the poor, the ignorant, the sick, the sad.
There remains the question of time. When are the boys and girls to begin to pay the debt? Fill that blank with the one word “Now!”