The package was plainly marked “Perishable,” with a bright green postal sticker. I think the delivery man was very glad to get rid of it when we heard it hit our porch floor with a juicy splash. We came running to satisfy our curiosity, but our noses told us at once that there was SOMETHING WRONG inside! Packages shouldn’t smell like that. And what was that little puddle around it?
Perishable indeed! The sticker was sticky and could scarcely be read, so there was sure proof that it was true. I suppose the post office was expected to handle it quickly, but it was not sent air mail, even though it came across the continent, and it was warm summertime.
Do you understand that word “perishable”? It applies to you, too. Perishable indeed, you are! No delivery service can bring you to God’s home as long as that label is true of you. There is no doubt that our package was full of bacteria, and there is no doubt that you are full of sin. Nasty little sins like snapping at Dad or Mother or brother or sister. In fact, God’s Word says that you have been ready to tell lies ever since you were born. And as you grow older, the sins get deeper until you are all tangled up with the cords of sin. For this reason, God marks you as “perishable,” and in your own heart you know that this is true.
The sender of that package had a heart full of kindness, and her plan was to give us a nice treat. She didn’t reckon on bacteria. In fact, I think she lacked plain common sense. What else could she expect?
Pretty paper and a nice card do nothing to kill bacteria. They just naturally work if they get a chance, and that’s what happened. Sin is like that, too. It’s there in your heart, and it just naturally works. You are blind if you cannot see the problem. You are certainly perishable.
But, here’s the good news. God has the answer, so that you will NOT PERISH, but have everlasting life. I suppose if that lady had really been determined that we should get her package in top condition, she might have hopped on a plane and a taxi and brought it to us herself, but that would be much too costly. But God looked at His perishable creatures, and He did not say, “Too costly.” He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that we would not perish. Nobody — NOBODY — ever loved you like God does.
What must you do to be saved? Only one thing — believe God’s wonderful offer, and take His perfect gift as your own. Then “NEVER PERISH” will be the wonderful promise that God gives to you. It is God who saves, and God who keeps — forever.
But I have not yet told you what we found in that package. It had once been full of big, red, sweet, juicy fresh-picked cherries. Now it was a dripping moldy mess, fit for nothing but garbage. Her good intentions did nothing at all to make her gift acceptable. We wrote our thanks to her, but we didn’t tell her the whole story. It was only cherries after all, and not children that were destroyed, and she never knew.
Aren’t you glad it wasn’t you who were destroyed? It could be, if you go on without Jesus as your Saviour. He saves and He keeps His own. His home and all its glory can be yours because God gave His only Son to die for your sins. Even gold is perishable, but never, never in all eternity will God allow the weakest one to perish who really trusts Him now.