IT WAS the winter season in India I— the cool, dry months when many missionaries go camping in village centers, seeking to spread the message of the gospel to those who have few opportunities of hearing it. One missionary, with his cook, had spent some time camping in a village. The camp was at an end, and all his equipment was piled high on the bullock-cart that was to take it to the next camping center. The tradespeople from whom he had made purchases came to have their accounts settled. The missionary-sahib paid the milkman, the butcher, and the grocer. Then along came a man who demanded payment for a chicken which he said the cook had bought the day before.
The missionary thought hard, but could not recall having had a chicken curry the night before. He called his cook.
“Did you buy a chicken from this man?” he asked.
The cook shook his head decisively. “No, sahib,” he replied.
“You did,” the other retorted hoy. “It was a big rooster, and you promised me that the sahib would pay a rupee for it.”
“Don’t tell such lies,” the cook replied. “I have never seen you bore.”
“Don’t you tell such lies,” the other man returned angrily.
The missionary tried to quiet them. He did not want his servant to quarrel with the people whom he had been trying to reach with the gospel. But while the two men glared at each other a fresh and altogether unexpected witness was heard. From the middle of the load on the cart came the unmistakable crow of a rooster! That settled everything. The cook had been unable to hide his theft.
“Be sure your sin will find you out” was the warning Moses gave to the people of Israel (Numb. 32:23), and the warning is still true today. We may hide our sins from men but we cannot hide them from God. What must we do about it? “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy,” Prov. 28:13, is God’s promise in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament there is an even greater one.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
If you have never done so yet, why not confess to the Lord today that you are a sinner and claim His cleansing and forgiveness.
“Come now, and let us reason tether, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. 1:18.
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.
ML-07/29/1962