Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived in Africa many years ago. One day when Mr. Smith was gone from home, a troop of baboons invaded the corn garden in front of their house. The corn right then was beautiful, the cobs filled with sweet, juicy corn grains. It was just about time to harvest their corn crop. Earlier throughout the season, they had often seen a few monkeys in the trees around the garden, which had clearly come as spies to find out if the corn was ripe yet, but they had not paid much attention to them.
There were many species of monkeys in the area. They often enjoyed seeing them running up and down the trees and swinging on the branches of trees on both sides of a lovely stream which flowed past their house.
But further back in the forest were troops of large, ferocious baboons, which were dangerous, often attacking and killing people. These baboons were also very skillful thieves, and the native gardens often lost a lot of food from their stealing raids.
One day, a man rushed in and told Mrs. Smith that a troop of those baboons was in the corn garden. She asked him to go and chase them away, but he said they wouldn’t leave unless he had a spear or a bow and arrows. He took some of those, but even so, when he got close to the first animal — a gigantic male — the look on its face and its determined attitude terrified him, and he ran away as quickly as
he could.
Mrs. Smith went out to the porch of the house to see what was happening for herself. She saw that many of the older and more experienced baboons were breaking off cobs of corn and dropping them over the thorny fence to their companions, who quickly gathered up the stolen corn. Several alert guard baboons had been appointed to watch on the fence at different points, so they could warn the others of any approaching danger. Not until the baboons had all they could carry and the guards had signaled that it was time to go did the troop quietly move out of the garden and run off through the forest with their prize.
Sometime later when Mr. Smith had returned to the station, the baboons came again to the corn garden in large numbers. Mr. Smith shot one of the most daring of the invaders. After that, they had no more trouble with the baboons. Local people said that the baboons told their friends about Mr. Smith’s rifle and warned them not to visit that garden.
While a baboon troop stealing corn is a hard thing to see happening in your garden, baboons don’t know anything about stealing being a sin. But boys and girls and older people too know that stealing is wrong. They know it because they don’t do it openly, but try to hide it. Have you ever stolen anything, perhaps even a piece of candy or gum from one of your sisters or brothers? I think many of us have done that. When we do wrong things, we are sinning, and even one sin is enough to keep us out of heaven. I’m so glad I know for sure that the Lord Jesus died on the cross and His precious blood was shed to pay for all of my sins. Because I believe in what He has done, I know that I will go to heaven, because the Bible says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). I hope you know the Lord Jesus as your own Savior too, because the rest of that verse says, “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). Which half of that verse do you fit in?
Messages of God’s Love 8/17/2025