“Who wants to go to the grocery store with me?” Mother called to the children in the living room.
“I do!” called 12-year-old David, jumping up from his chair.
“And me too!” called 8-year-old Grace, pulling on her shoes.
The children loved to go shopping with Mother. Sometimes she even let them buy treats.
Inside the store, Mother took the shopping list out of her purse and said, “Grace, would you go get two cartons of milk for me, please? And, David, you can get the bread.”
“Okay!” they both said and hurried off in different directions.
Soon Grace came back with the two cartons of milk. “Where’s David?” she asked Mother.
“He’s still getting the bread. Here he comes now,” said Mother, but she saw his hands were empty. “David, where’s the bread?”
“Mother, I saw a man steal... and he’s still in here!” David said, quite out of breath.
Mother’s eyes grew wide. “Tell a salesclerk, David ... quickly!” “Okay, I will. Come on, Grace, let’s go!”
They ran up to a sales lady who worked in the store. “Excuse me, Miss, I saw a man take something and hide it in his jacket!” exclaimed David. The saleslady thanked him for reporting it and asked him what the man looked like.
“He has a black jacket on and blue pants, and he had a band-aid on his forehead. Look! He just came around that corner over there!” And David pointed him out.
The saleslady turned and told two of the salesclerks about the shoplifter.
“What are they going to do?” Grace asked her anxiously.
“They’re going to wait by the doors and when the man goes out, they will take him to the back room to see what he took. If he really took something and was leaving without paying for it, they will have to call the police.”
David and Grace watched the salesclerks standing by the doors.
Mother came over to the children and said, “What did the saleslady say?”
“They’re going to wait for him by the doors and take him in the back room!” said Grace, breathlessly.
Sure enough, a man that fit David’s description went out the door where the two salesclerks were waiting. They each quickly took an arm and led him to the back of the store. The thief was caught.
God knows what that man did. Even if David had not seen him steal, God still would know about it. Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3) tells us, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” People cannot get away with sin, because God sees it all and He has it written down beside our names. And this includes little people as well as big people.
Sometimes we think that the little sins we do aren’t as bad as somebody else’s big sins. But whether we call them “big” or “little” makes no difference. All sin must be punished: “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23). Someone will be punished for your sins either you or a substitute (someone who takes your place).
There is Someone who loves you and will be your substitute if you will let Him. The last half of Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) tells us who it is: “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jesus went to Calvary’s cross and bore the punishment for the sins of every person who will accept Him as their substitute. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18). Do you have Jesus as your substitute? Or are you going to have to suffer for your sins in that awful place where the devil and his angels will be?
You can’t do wrong and get by,
No matter how hard you may try,
Nothing hidden can be,
Everything He doth see,
You can’t do wrong and get by!
ML-07/19/1992