A Brightly Colored Thief

Narrator: Chris Genthree
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 5
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A man in Fairmont, Minnesota, had a gas tank installed in his rear yard. Not long Afterward, he was plagued by thefts of gas from his tank.
He rigged up a homemade thief-catcher. He fixed a small charge of explosive so when the hose was lifted from the tank, it would go off, spraying the culprit with hard-to-remove dye.
It worked, and soon the sheriff’s office arrested a teen age boy—brightly colored — for the gasoline theft.
We are all brightly colored sinners, for sin has the effect of spreading an impossible-to-remove dye upon all who sin.
The bright color is red, but God says, “Come now, and let us reason together,... though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18).
We said the stain was impossible to remove. It is as far as man is concerned; but what man cannot do, the precious blood of Christ can.
The Saviour shed His life’s blood for sinners. Now, we are told, “the blood of Jesus Christ... cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).
T. M. O.
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing—
Passing from you and from me;
Shadows are fading and Jesus is coming—
Say, is He coming for thee?
ML-03/07/1976