Dear Children,
I have a picture of a dog named Pockets. He is my sister’s dog, and he looks so cute in the picture, all dressed up in a shirt and pants with suspenders and sunglasses. Sometimes he gets dressed up like that when my sister takes him out for a walk. Many people stop and say “hi” to him and shake his paw, and some take his picture. Pockets loves the attention!
Gramma and I went to my sister’s one day, to visit her and to see Pockets go for a walk and do some of the tricks my sister had been teaching him how to do for over a year. We thought Pockets was a really smart dog to learn all those tricks.
My sister spent a lot of time teaching Pockets all those tricks, and he listens very well. Children, when your parent or your Sunday school teacher spends time with you reading the holy Bible, do you listen really well and not play? I hope you pay close attention.
When I saw Pockets walking so nicely with my sister, I thought of the Bible verses in James 3:7-8: “Every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”
Dear children, we have seen elephants, parrots, snakes and dolphins all tamed by people. People can train animals and birds, but God says, “The tongue can no man tame.” Isn’t this sad? Our tongues are very hard to control. But let me tell you two verses from the Bible with good things to do with our tongues. “If [you will] confess with [your] mouth the Lord Jesus, and [will] believe in [your] heart that God [has] raised Him from the dead, [you will] be saved. For with the heart man [believes] unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-109That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9‑10)). So instead of using our mouth and tongue for saying bad words and wrong things, we can use it for the glory of God!
Just like my sister teaches Pockets how to do tricks, God’s Word, the holy Bible, teaches us how we can be saved from our sins.
Pockets always gets a reward for doing all his tricks, and he just loves those rewards. What about us? Yes, we receive something wonderful from God also, and it’s for whoever believes! It’s found in Romans 6:23: “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” What a marvelous gift! Eternal life in heaven with Jesus!
With love,
Gramma & Grampa
P.S. Here’s a good Bible verse to memorize: “Keep [your] tongue from evil, and [your] lips from speaking guile” (Psalm 34:1313Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. (Psalm 34:13)).
Messages of God’s Love 11/23/2025