FROM among the huge rocks, a large and strong tiger has been captured. Very likely a great deal of scheming had to be done in order to catch hint and get the iron collar around his neck; but now that the men succeeded that far, most of their trouble and danger is over, they can now call him a captive. He is under their power and they are leading him just where they want.
Is there any lesson we may learn from this? Do you think there are any others that are led captive? Ah yes, dear children, Scripture shows us that sin is in us, and leads us captive, it is more than we are able for, and we need one to deliver us who is able, and He is the Lord Jesus.
I will tell you about a little boy I once read about, that will illustrate it. His name was Tommy Wilson, he came home one day with tears in his eyes: he ran and laid his head in his mother’s lap and sobbed aloud. She pushed the curls back from his forehead, kissed him, and said, “What is the matter, my son?”
“O Ma,” he answered, “its so hard to be good.”
“What makes you think so, Tommy?”
“Why, you know Mamma, yesterday you talked to me in the evening about having a clean heart, and told me that I must pray to God, and He would give me one, and that then I would love everybody. I thought I would like to have such a heart; and I prayed when I, went to bed, and kept thinking about it until I fell asleep, and as soon as I woke in the morning, I remembered about it, and prayed again, and it seemed to me as if I had it. I felt so happy; and when I went to school I tried to be kind to all the boys, and learn my lessons well and to be good. But this noon Geo. J. snatched my ball, and I got angry and called him a thief. And when we were playing, Charlie S. struck me, and before I thought. I struck him back, And coming home, James L. called me a coward, and I called him a liar. And so, Ma, I keep forgetting and do wrong, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t be good.”
That little boy was captive to sin, but you see be had the desire to do what was right, and very likely he knew what it was to believe that the Lord Jesus had died for his sins and that he would not have to bear the awful judgment he deserved for his sins, because Jesus had borne that in his place but he evidently had not seen his helplessness and thought he was able to.do what was right. Have you been like this little boy? If so, it is for you to know that Jesus has not only died for your sins but Jesus has died for you and God now looks at you in Christ who is risen and sees you in His perfection. What then is to be done with this tendency to do what is wrong? In yourself you can do nothing, but in dependence upon the Lord not only night and morning but all the time and He will keep you.
ML 06/03/1906