Carlos had been taught since he was a small boy that stealing was wrong. When he and his cousin were walking through the supermarket, his cousin began pulling off grapes, one by one, from the produce display and eating them. Carlos was surprised and did not join his cousin in stealing grapes.
Still, the grapes looked awfully good, and no one seemed to notice his cousin taking them. Finally, Carlos could resist no longer. When he thought no one was looking, he reached out to take a grape—only one—from one of the bunches. Imagine his surprise when, instead of a single grape, he found a small bunch had pulled off in his hand! The single grape just would not come loose from the bunch.
“Hey!” shouted one of the supermarket employees at Carlos. Frightened, he raced out of the supermarket and looked for a place to hide. However, the only place he could find to hide was under a jeep parked at the curb. His heart pounding with guilty fear, Carlos lay under the jeep. He wondered what he should do if the owner of the jeep were to come out and start his vehicle.
What a mess Carlos had gotten himself into, and all because of a single grape! Boys and girls, let us remember that little things we do can have big consequences in our lives. Adam’s one disobedience shut him out from fellowship with God and from the Garden of Eden. And it only takes one sin to keep a person out of heaven.
I am happy to tell you that when Carlos was fifteen years old, he came to realize that his sins were going to keep him out of heaven. He soon received God’s gift of eternal salvation through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Today Carlos is one of the happiest Christians I know, but he has never forgotten the lesson of the one stolen grape.
ML-10/17/2010