We once got a package with a bright green postal label. We heard it hit our porch floor with a juicy splash. I think the delivery man was very glad to get rid of it, and he must have carried juicy, sticky fingers back to the truck. We came running to see what had arrived, but our noses told us at once that there was SOMETHING WRONG inside! Packages shouldn’t smell like that. And what was that little puddle around it?
No doubt it was perishable! The label was sticky and could scarcely be read, so there was sure proof that it was true. I suppose the post office was expected to handle it quickly, but it was not sent air mail, even though it came across the continent. And it was warm summertime.
Do you understand that word “perishable”? The dictionary says, “To become destroyed or ruined: die.” The word applies to you too because you certainly are perishable! No delivery service can bring you to God’s home in heaven as long as that label is true of you. There is no doubt that our package was full of bacteria, and there is no doubt that you are full of sin - nasty little sins like snapping at Dad or Mother or brother or sister. In fact, God’s Word says that you have been ready to tell lies ever since you were born: “They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:33The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. (Psalm 58:3)). Every lie is a sin. And as you grow older, the sins pile up until you are all tangled up with the cords of sin. For this reason, God marks you as “perishable,” and in your own heart you know that this is true.
The sender of that package had a heart full of kindness, and her plan was to give us a nice treat. She didn’t think about bacteria and how they make food spoil. Pretty paper and a nice card do nothing to kill bacteria. They just naturally work if they get a chance, and that is what happened.
Sin is like that too. It is there, in your heart, and it just naturally works. You are blind if you cannot see the problem. You are certainly perishable.
But here’s the good news. God has the answer so that you will NOT PERISH but have everlasting life. I suppose if that lady had really been determined that we should get her package in top condition, she might have hopped on a plane and a taxi and brought it to us herself, but that would be much too costly. But God looked at His perishable creatures, you and me, and He did not say, “Too costly.” He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that we would not perish. Nobody, nobody ever loved you like God does!
What must you do to be saved from your sins that make you perishable? Only one thing. Believe God’s wonderful offer and take His perfect gift as your own. Then “NEVER PERISH” will be the wonderful promise that God gives to you. It is God who saves and God who keeps - forever.
But I have not yet told you what we found in that package. It had once been full of big, red, sweet, juicy, fresh-picked cherries. Now it was a dripping, moldy mess, fit for nothing but garbage. Her good intentions did nothing to make her gift acceptable. We wrote our thanks to her, but we did not tell her the whole story. It was only cherries, after all, and not children, that were destroyed, and she never knew.
Aren’t you glad that what was destroyed was cherries - and not you? It could be - if you go on without Jesus as your Saviour. He saves and He keeps His own. His home and all its splendor can be yours, because God gave His only Son to die for your sins. Even gold is perishable, but never, never in all eternity will God allow the weakest one to perish who truly accepts His costly gift of salvation.
ML-03/11/2001