PERHAPS some of my little readers have heard of Charlie and the plate of apples. One day when Charlie had been playing with some bad boys his father told him to go to the orchard and get some nice, red apples. Charlie got the apples and then his father told him to get a bad one and put it in the plate with the others. But Charlie said, “Oh no! Papa, the rotten apple will spoil the good ones.” His father told Charlie to do as he had said, and Charlie obeyed.
Some days later Charlie was asked to bring out the plate of apples. How many of you think that the good apples had made the bad one good? Not any of you. No, the bad apple had spoiled all the good ones.
Now can you tell me what happens when you play with naughty, bad children! You learn their naughty ways and are very likely to do the same things they do. Do you think God likes that? No, dear children, and I will tell you what He says. “Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” Proverbs 4:14, 1514Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. (Proverbs 4:14‑15).
God does not want you to play with bad children, but to keep away from them, so that you may not be like the good apples that were spoiled by the bad one.
Again God says,
Entice means to lead astray, or tempt. If someone tempts you to do something wrong, you ought to say, “No.” Your little playmates may laugh at you and call you “coward” or “baby”, because you refuse to do the naughty thing, but never mind that. It is much better to please God than to please a naughty companion. And it is never cowardly to refuse to do wrong.
I want to tell you about a little boy named Robert, who was enticed by two naughty boys.
These two boys wanted him to go to the river one Sunday, when his mother had sent him to Sunday school.
Our verse says, “If sinners entice thee consent thou not,” but Robert did consent to the wishes of his naughty companions, instead of obeying his mother.
When they reached the river, they went out in a little boat, expecting to have a good time. But instead of that, the boat was upset and they were all drowned.
Yes, dear children, if we yield to the temptation of sinners, we will get into trouble. Sooner or later, we will be punished. But if we do as our first verse tells us, and do not enter into the path of the wicked, but avoid it and turn from it, then they cannot entice us to sin.
I hope you will all ask God for strength and courage to have nothing to do with naughty children and their naughty ways.
ML 05/17/1903