One night Mother and Daddy were gonig out to supper, leaving little Charles and his baby sister in the care of their uncle and aunt. Just before going, his mother had told them that the day before Charles had had to be punished, for she had heard him use a very bad word that little boys should not say.
When his uncle was putting Charles to bed he said, “I was sorry to hear that your mother had to spank you yesterday. I hope you didn’t say any had words today.”
Charles hung his head and murmured,
“No,—not where Mother would hear me.”
“But don’t forget,” reminded Uncle, “that even though your mother can’t, God hears everything you say.”
“O! but God doesn’t spank me,” the child said quickly.
But we learn from Rev. 20:12 That all we do or say is taken account of, and some day we shall be judged (or punished) for “those things that were written in the books.”
Little Charles thought that because he was not spanked at once, it was all right to keep on doing wrong, and that is just what God’s Word tells us in Ecc. 8:11,
“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
But “the wages of sin is death,” Rom. 6:23, and the only nvay to escape this punishment is to own to Him what a sinner you have been, and accept His pardon and gift of eternal life you can say:
“He bore the punishment instead me.”
ML 08/18/1946