One fall evening four neighbor children arrived at the Grays’ house to jump on the trampoline. They were hoping to jump as long as possible before going home to do schoolwork.
Neighbor children were always welcome to use the Grays’ trampoline, but there were three rules they were supposed to follow.
1. Don’t chew gum or eat candy when
jumping.
2. Never go under the trampoline.
3. Only three children may jump at one time (unless they are very small).
This last rule seemed to be the hardest for the children to obey. On this particular evening, all four children wanted to jump together, so they did. It was great fun for a while, with each child trying to jump higher than the others. But the weight of four children made one of the springs on the trampoline snap and fly off. Suddenly the fun was over.
The children had a decision to make. Should they go to the house and confess that they had broken the trampoline because they had disobeyed a rule, or should they make up a story about how it got broken? They decided to do the right thing.
The four timidly went to the door and knocked. When the Grays opened the door, the children showed them the broken spring and told the Grays that all four of them had been jumping on the trampoline together. Then they offered to pay to have it fixed.
The Grays were so glad they came to tell the truth about what they had done. They were also happy to forgive them and told them that they did not have to pay for the broken spring. The Grays loved the children and were happy to pay for the broken spring themselves.
This is a little picture of how much God loves us and wants to forgive us. We are all sinners who have done wrong things and deserve God’s judgment. Only, unlike those children, we could never even begin to pay for our sins. But the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus “was wounded for our transgressions [the disobedient things we have done], He was bruised for our iniquities [our sins]: the chastisement [punishment] of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:55But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)). God loved us so much that He sent His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to pay the price for all the wrong things we have done. Now, if we admit to God that we are sinners and believe that Jesus died to pay for our sins, He forgives us for all the wrong things we have done, because Jesus already paid for them. Have you believed this
wonderful love?
Messages of God’s Love 1/19/25