“Who wants to go to the grocery store with me?” Mom called to David and Gracie in the other room.
“I do!” called 12-year-old David, jumping up from his chair.
“And me too!” called 8-year-old Gracie, pulling on her shoes.
The children loved to go shopping with Mom. They liked to find some of the items on her shopping list. And sometimes she let them each pick out a treat.
Inside the store, Mom took the shopping list out of her purse and said, “Gracie, 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 Gracie came back with the two cartons of milk. “Where’s David?” she asked.
“I guess he’s still getting the bread. . . . Here he comes now,” said Mom, but she saw his hands were empty. “David, where’s the bread?”
Instead of answering her question, David blurted out, “Mom, I saw a man steal . . . and he’s still in here!”
Mom quickly said to David, “Tell a salesclerk, David . . . quickly!”
“Okay, I will. Come on, Gracie, let’s go!”
They ran up to a saleslady who worked in the store. “Excuse me, but 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?” Gracie 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 Gracie watched the salesclerks standing by the doors.
Mom came over to the children and asked, “What did the saleslady say?”
“They’re going to wait for him by the doors and take him to the back room!” said Gracie, breathlessly.
And that’s exactly what happened. A man that matched David’s description went out the door where the two salesclerks were waiting. They each quickly took hold of one of his arms 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 15:3 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 6:23). Someone will be punished for your sins—either you or a substitute (someone who takes your place).
There is Someone who loves you so very much that He has offered to be your substitute, if you will let Him. The last half of Romans 6:23 tells us who it is: “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 3:18).
Do you have Jesus as your substitute? Or are you going to have to bear the punishment for your own sins in that awful place where the devil and his angels will be sent? The Bible calls it hell, and that will be forever!
That should be an easy decision for you to make. But don’t wait! Talk to Jesus about your sins right now! He is willing to forgive them, if you will trust Him as your Saviour.
MEMORY VERSE: “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
ML-10/23/2016