When I was young, I lived next door to a girl named Vicky, who became my friend. I loved to go to Vicky’s big, beautiful house to play, because Vicky had a very large collection of dolls...dolls of all sizes, colors and shapes, with lots of pretty clothes and a big dollhouse to “live” in. There was one little doll that I always looked for to play with...she was about 4 inches tall with smooth red hair and she wore a little blue dress and had tiny shoes and socks. I always felt sad that I had to put her back when it was time to go home. One day, a bad thought popped into my head. “Why not slip the doll into my pocket when it’s time to leave? Vicky has so many dolls she will never notice it is missing.” The more I thought about this, the more determined I was to do it. Have you ever had a thought pop into your head to do something wrong, a thing that the Bible calls “sin”? When that happens, you always have a choice to follow through with the thought by acting on it, or to say “no” to sin. But it is far easier to say “no” if we do it right away. What do you think I did?
The doll fit nicely in my pocket and didn’t stick out, so when it was time for me to go home, I left with the doll hidden in my pocket. I remember I didn’t feel very comfortable saying good-bye to Vicky’s older sisters, who were babysitting us at the time. When I got home, I looked at the little doll but I didn’t feel as happy as I thought I would be to have it. In fact, that night I could not get to sleep for a long time. Finally, I decided what to do. In the morning I would bring the doll back to my friend Vicky. But I would not tell her I had taken it. I was too ashamed. I would just sneak it back into her dollhouse. At last I fell asleep.
The next morning, I quickly finished my breakfast and asked if I could go next door. But on the way, I had another wrong thought. What I had done bothered me so much I didn’t want to follow through with my plan to return the doll. And I didn’t want to always see the doll and remember how I had stolen it. Behind Vicky’s house was a big field of tall grass that was part of an empty lot. Instead of going to Vicky’s house and ringing the doorbell, I carried the little doll in my pocket over to that field. Taking a deep breath and with my cheeks burning, I threw the doll into the tall grass as far as I could. Then I went back home.
Boys and girls, I want you to know that I didn’t know Jesus as my Savior back then. I was still a sinner. It was a sin to want the doll that didn’t belong to me, and it was a sin to steal it. Those sins stayed buried in my conscience for many years before I came to know that Jesus loved me and died for me so that I could be forgiven for those sins and many others. If only I had known the wonderful truth back then when I was a young girl that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)), I could have been forgiven right then.
Throwing that little doll into the field did not get rid of my guilt, but thankfully, it says in God’s wonderful book, the Bible: “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:1919He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)). Because Jesus took the punishment I deserved upon Himself when He suffered and died on the cross, I am forgiven. What peace He gives us when we confess our sins!
Messages of God’s Love 12/13/2020