Most children like to chew bubble gum. It’s fun to blow bubbles with it and then make them pop. Mike was no exception. In fact, maybe Mike liked to chew bubble gum even more than most children. Sometimes he would chew it in school, even though it wasn’t allowed.
His teacher had made the rule, “NO GUM CHEWING IN SCHOOL” back when school had started in the fall. But Mike and some of his friends often disobeyed that rule. They would just hold the gum in their mouths when the teacher was facing them, but when her back was turned they would make bubbles and quietly pop them before she turned around again.
Mike knew he was disobeying and probably felt even more guilty about it, because he was a Christian. As a young boy, he had come to realize that when he disobeyed it was a sin, so he was a sinner. From the Bible he had learned and believed that the Lord Jesus Christ loved him even though he was a sinner and that Jesus had died on Calvary’s cross to wash away his sins. But Mike didn’t always want to please his Savior. Sometimes disobeying rules was more fun.
The teacher knew what was going on behind her back. Since the usual punishment of having to stay after school didn’t seem to cut down on the gum chewing, a different punishment was needed.
One morning the teacher announced, “Anyone caught chewing gum in class will have to wear it on the end of his or her nose for the rest of the day!” Most of the children thought it was a funny punishment and laughed. This only encouraged Mike to see how long he could get away with it.
He had a big wad of bubble gum in his mouth, and each time the teacher turned her back he would chew real hard and then blow a bubble, quickly getting rid of it before he got caught.
Finally, the teacher caught him. And Mike had to put that big wad of pink bubble gum on the end of his nose.
At first he thought it was funny, and he snickered, making the children laugh too. But after a while it wasn’t so funny. When he looked down to do his math and reading lessons, all he could see was that big, pink blob of gum on his nose. He just couldn’t forget it was there. He couldn’t go out for morning recess because the teacher said the gum might drop off, and he had to wear it the whole day! Even when they ate their lunches it wasn’t any fun for Mike, because other children in the lunchroom laughed at him, saying how funny he looked. It was no longer fun to disobey the rules.
Mike was having to learn a much-needed Bible lesson: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)). Sin always has its punishment. But even though Mike was being punished for disobeying the rule, there was something else he needed to remember.
When school was finally out, Mike quickly tore off that ugly gum and threw it away. However, there was still a little dried piece stuck to his nose. Mike didn’t know it was there, but his mother and dad saw it when he sat down at the dinner table. They asked him about it and soon found out the whole story.
His parents were very sorry to hear what Mike had done at school. His dad talked to him for a long time, explaining that although they were so unhappy and disappointed with his conduct at school, what was even more important was that Mike certainly was not a good model of a Christian. After seeing how he acted, why would his friends or his teacher want to become a Christian? He was just another bad boy.
Mike realized then how much he had displeased the Lord Jesus as well as his parents. He was sorry—so sorry that the next day he went to his teacher and told her that he was sorry that he had been so bad. He also told her that he was sorry because he had made the Lord Jesus displeased with him, too.
Perhaps if Mike will begin trying to please the Lord Jesus at school, he might be the means of leading his teacher and his friends to want to know his Savior who loves and died for sinners. The Bible tells Christians to “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)).