“You’ll make good money working in the apple harvest, Bruce,” said a friend. “They’ll pay you by the basket and you can make as much as 50 dollars a day.”
That sounded good to Bruce! He was driving to British Columbia on the west coast of Canada during his holidays but needed to work along the way to pay his expenses for the trip. He had worked for a while on a wheat farm, but now wheat harvest was over and he was ready to take his little Volkswagen on towards British Columbia.
The apple harvest had just begun when Bruce reached the British Columbia valley. Sure enough, he had no trouble getting a job picking apples.
“We’re not allowed to sell the apples that have fallen off the trees,” the foreman told Bruce. “You’ll have to climb a ladder and pick the apples from the tops of the trees.”
Bruce worked for three days picking apples and, thinking that he could make 50 dollars a day, he figured the three days would earn him 150 dollars. That would be plenty to continue his vacation in British Columbia.
Before Bruce left to go to the owner for his pay, the foreman told him, “You may take some of the apples that fell from the trees to give to your friends. We are not allowed to sell them anyway.” Bruce gladly loaded up the back seat of his Volkswagen with apples from the ground. His friends would be glad to get them.
Bruce drove up to the owner’s house ready for his pay. The owner looked inside the car and asked Bruce, “Are we even?”
“Even?” asked Bruce. He was shocked. Was the owner seriously suggesting that those fallen, bruised apples in the back seat were his pay for three days’ work? He had certainly not expected this!
“How much is my pay?” Bruce asked.
“You’ve earned 5 dollars a day and you’ve got 15 dollars worth of apples in your car.”
Bruce could hardly believe his ears. He had expected to get so much, and now the owner wanted to give him so little.
Have you ever been disappointed like Bruce was? Have you ever expected a lot from something and ended up with only a little? I want to tell you that God will never disappoint you. His love is so great that He never gives “a little.” Everything that God wants to give you is so great and so wonderful that you will be surprised at how much it is. First, He wants to give you the forgiveness of your sins so that you can be welcomed into His happy family. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7).
When the Lord Jesus was here on this earth, a great crowd of people came to listen to Him and afterwards they were hungry. One of the followers of the Lord Jesus said, “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.” He was explaining to the Lord Jesus that the amount of bread that could be bought with 200 pennies wouldn’t be enough even to give each person a little bit. But the Lord Jesus didn’t give them lust “a little,” He gave them enough bread so that everyone had all they could eat, and there was even some left over!
Would you like to know this loving God who blesses until you have some left over? No one will ever be disappointed with His great gifts. But you cannot keep your sins and have God’s gifts at the same time. You must first have your sins washed away in the precious blood of Christ. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).
When Bruce recovered from his surprise, he said to the owner, “The foreman told me these apples were worthless because they couldn’t be sold.”
“You can have this,” the owner said. He handed Bruce 5 dollars.
Bruce drove off with 5 dollars, the bruised apples and a big disappointment in his heart.
Boys and girls, you will never be disappointed in God’s gifts to you. He loves you and wants to give good things to you now and have you in His happy home in heaven. If you trust in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, you won’t receive “a little,” you’ll receive all the riches of God’s love and grace.
ML 06/10/1990