How would you like to live with a guilty feeling for over 46 years? And it was over just a cracker with peanut butter. If Arthur only had known about the verse in 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9), “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” he would not have been distressed for all those years.
Arthur was just a first grader back in 1938. Like many children he liked to carry a snack to school. One day Arthur’s mother gave him some crackers with peanut butter to take to school. For safe keeping Arthur gave them to his teacher. Later that morning when Arthur was ready for his snack, he found that it had disappeared from the teacher’s desk. Someone must have taken the crackers!
Arthur’s teacher told him to do a foolish thing. She told him to smell the breath of each of his classmates to decide who could have eaten the peanut butter and crackers. Arthur felt he had to accuse someone, so he named Viola, even though he did not think she ate them.
Poor Viola was so upset she cried and cried and was unable to come back to school for several days. Now, 46 years later, Arthur placed an ad in a large newspaper asking Viola to forgive him. He hoped she would see the ad.
Many people today are just like Arthur. They know that they are sinners and “hope” that God will forgive them. What they need to know is that God has already provided a way so they can be forgiven. It is by confessing our need of a Saviour and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way to be saved. “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” Psalms 32:55I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. (Psalm 32:5).
Have you asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive your sins? Have you accepted Him as your Saviour? If not won’t you do so right now?
Arthur said that 46 years later he could still picture Viola’s face in front of him as though it were yesterday. Arthur was unable to forget Viola’s face, and for any who have not accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, there will come a time when they will be unable to forget the face of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:1010And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 22:10)) and it will be a fearful remembrance. But all of us who know Him as our Saviour have the happy hope of seeing Him face to face.
ML-11/11/1984