Dear Children,
Let me tell you what happened this morning when I went out to the barn. I opened the door and walked over to get a pail of birdseed to fill the bird feeders, and guess what I saw . . . I saw a big mess of birdseed all over the floor! Some critter had been in the barn, found the bag of seed and had torn it open.
“Well,” I said to myself, “it’s your own fault for not putting this bag of birdseed into the seed bin which has a lid on it. Now then,” I said to myself, “I’ll just get that wire cage trap down and see if I can catch the critter that made this mess!” You see, this night critter could be one of many different animals.
I got to thinking about what the Bible says in John 3:1919And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19) about people who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Children, do you love darkness rather than light because you don’t want someone to see or hear what you are doing? I hope not.
So now I was going to try to catch this animal critter that did his evil deeds at night. I carefully opened the door on the cage and put in some bait - usually peanut butter on a slice of bread will catch anything. Then very carefully I set the cage down on the floor not far from the birdseed mess. “If this critter comes back again, I’ll catch it for sure!” I told myself.
The next morning I was up bright and early and took Chelsea, our dog, with me out to the barn to check the trap. Now, what do you think we saw in the trap?
Nothing! Not a thing! Oh well, we’ll have to try again.
But maybe this critter is smart enough not to come back. Or maybe this critter is like boys and girls who sin once - maybe tell a lie, maybe steal something - and don’t get caught the first time but do it again, and bingo! - they get caught! Do you know anyone like that? It’s a terrible feeling to get caught in any sin!
Next morning I was up bright and early again. Chelsea was all excited as we walked to the barn. She ran ahead of me, and boy-oh-boy, she was inside and barking and growling and snarling all at the same time! What a noise! I said to myself, “Uh oh, we’ve caught something for sure!”
Do you want to know what it was? It was a big, fat possum! He was trying to bite Chelsea, and Chelsea was doing her best to get through the wire cage to get at Mr. Possum! So I told Chelsea, “Leave it alone!” Chelsea looked at me, then looked at the possum and slowly walked away, still growling at it.
So here we had this night critter trapped in a cage. What do we do now?
It reminds me of Proverbs 6:22Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. (Proverbs 6:2): “Thou art [trapped] with the words of thy mouth.” How can you get trapped with the words of your mouth? Very easily. By telling lies, by saying naughty words or things that are not nice. This is what God calls SIN, and this is how we get trapped with the words of our mouths.
But we have a way out of this trap! God says in 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), “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” The Lord Jesus will wash away every one of our sins if we will let Him. That will get anyone out of his or her trap of sin. And then we should learn that verse in Psalm 34:1313Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. (Psalm 34:13): “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile [lies].” That will help us not to say naughty words or tell lies.
Now, what should we do with Mr. Possum in my animal trap? Shoot him? Noooooo, I wouldn’t do that.
Gramma and I carefully picked up the cage so that the possum couldn’t bite us. (They have very sharp teeth.) We put the cage on the back of the truck and drove a loooooong distance away from our home to a wooded area.
When we stopped, I picked up the cage and placed it on the ground. Then I had a talk with Mr. Possum. I told him, “Don’t you ever come back and steal the birds’ seed again. It is their food . . . not yours!” Then I carefully opened the door of the cage to let him out.
Mr. Possum kind of sneaked out through the opening, stopped and looked around. Then realizing he was free, he took off like an arrow straight into the forest, probably saying to himself, “I’m free! I’m free! I never want to get into that cage again!”
And so, children, once you have trusted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, He has a work for you to do. Are you wondering what that is? We often sing the answer in Sunday school -
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam,
To shine for Him each day.
Just shine for Him, children! God loves each of you, and we do too!
Love,
Gramma & Grampa
ML-03/30/2003