Tom ran into the house, slamming the door behind him, and called, “Hi, Mom. I’m home.” He “screeched on his brakes” when he saw his mother in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the icing of a delicious-looking chocolate cake.
“Hey, Mom, I’m hungry! Can I have a piece?” he asked.
“No!” answered his mother emphatically. “This is for dessert tonight. Mr. Harrington is coming for dinner, and this cake must not be touched ‘till then. Here’s the icing knife and bowl that you may lick if you want.”
Tom soon had the knife and bowl licked clean. And it tasted like more as he looked at the cake longingly. His mother put it on the cupboard shelf and closed the door.
She turned to Tom and in a very firm voice said, “I have to go to the store for some things. You go out and play, and remember, that cake is not to be touched until dinner time. I mean it!”
Tom turned and went outside and soon forgot about the cake in a good game of hockey with his friends. After a while a couple of the boys were called in by their mother, and the game broke up.
With nothing to do, Tom decided to go in the house for a drink. The game had made him thirsty. As he got a glass out of the cupboard, he saw the chocolate cake sitting on the shelf, looking just as delicious as ever.
“Boy, does it look good!” thought Tom.
He kept looking at it, and as he looked, the cake became more and more tempting. His mouth watered, he wanted a taste so badly. He kept telling himself that Mom had said that he must not touch it. But his wanting a taste became greater and greater.
“I could just take a little snitch off the side there near the bottom, and nobody would know the difference,” he said to himself. “If I use a spoon instead of my dirty finger, it wouldn’t hurt the cake at all.”
Before he really knew what he was doing he had taken a spoon from the drawer and took a spoonful of cake. It was so good that he just had to take one more. Then he heard a car door slam. “Mom’s home! Now what do I do?”
Just then he saw Socks, the cat, walk into the kitchen. She was called Socks because she had four white feet. She was a bad cat and had often been caught up on the counter in the kitchen, and sometimes even on the table helping herself to food. Tom thought quickly. By the time his mother had the key in the front door, he had closed all the doors into the kitchen and was in his own room. Socks was left in the kitchen and could not get out. His mother would find her there.
Sometime later when his mother called him for dinner, Tom came running at once, making his best attempt to whistle. He stole a quick glance at his mother to see if she looked cross.
Had she noticed the piece out of the cake? he wondered. She looked all right. He went to wash his hands without even being told to do so. He was going to try to be as good as he knew how.
Before long he heard Mother calling him to come to the kitchen.
He went fearfully. His mother was standing in front of the cupboard looking at the cake.
“Tom,” she said in a stern voice, “you have disobeyed me. I told you not to touch that cake. I let you lick the bowl, and then you turned around and did what I told you not to do.”
“Me, Mom?” questioned Tom. “I’ve been out playing. It must have been Socks. That bad cat has been into the food again.”
His mother reached into the sink and picked up a spoon dirty with chocolate cake and icing. “Tom,” she said sternly, “cats don’t use spoons.”
Tom’s face got red and his eyes dropped. He couldn’t look at his mother. That verse from the Bible flashed into his mind — “Be sure your sin will find you out.” He couldn’t think of anything to say. The spoon proved that he was guilty.
When we do wrong, as Tom did, it is not just our parents or friends whom we hurt. We sin against God. God says, “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23). Tom had to take his punishment before he could be forgiven. But God says that “Christ died for our sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3). He bore our punishment that we might be forgiven.
ML-02/16/1986