“Hi, Matthew,” I greeted my dark-eyed, curly headed little friend. “Remember what we were talking about the other day?”
“Yeah,” answered Matthew. “I was gonna ask the Lord Jesus to wash away my sins.”
“Did you do that?” I asked. “Yeah.”
“And did the Lord Jesus wash away your sins?”
Matthew shrugged his shoulders showing he wasn’t sure.
“He sure did!” I said, “because He promises to hear and to answer our prayers.”
A few days later I was in the swimming pool again and Matthew came up to the fence looking rather sad. For a while he just stood there watching. Then he said, “If you’re bad after you ask the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away you’re still gonna go to heaven, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I assured him. “When the Lord Jesus washes your sins away in His precious blood, you become one of God’s children, and from then on you’re always His child. Matthew, remember the story of Noah escaping from the flood in the ark?”
“Yep, with lots of animals!” said Matthew with delight.
“It wasn’t because Noah never did anything wrong that he escaped being drowned. It was because he believed God when God said, ‘Noah, I want you to build an ark and go into it and you will be safe.’ Today God says to us, ‘Believe that the Lord Jesus died for your sins and let Him wash them away and you will be safe.’ But Noah and you and I all had to believe God first, didn’t we?”
“Yeah. Could the ark sink?” asked Matthew.
“No, God knows everything and He told Noah exactly how to build the ark so it would be completely safe. Then when all Noah’s family and the animals were inside, God shut the door so tightly that not one drop of water could leak in. No, that ark could never sink . . . and neither can we. Once we’re God’s children we’re on our way to heaven. But God wants us to act like His children, too. He has given us His life and His Holy Spirit to help us, and the Lord Jesus Himself is in heaven praying for us right now. Jude 2424Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, (Jude 24) tells us He ‘is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.’ Remember, the Lord Jesus gave His life for us, and He wants us to remember that we belong to Him.”
Are you one of God’s children? If so, are you trying to please Him? “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John 44I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 John 4).
ML 03/04/1990