Grampa had lost his watch and chain and had looked and looked wherever he thought they might be. But it was all of no use—he couldn’t find them anywhere. Two days later he found the chain on the floor under the book case, but what, good is a chain without a watch? and the watch certainly wasn’t there.
Later that day little Jane came running into the house, calling “Grampa, Grampa.”
“Here I am,” he answered.
“See,” she said, holding up the watch. “I have found your watch under a board in the yard.”
“Well so you have! However did you find it there?”
“I heard it ticking.”
But Gramma was standing by and she spoke up, “That can’t be right,” she said, taking the watch from Jane’s hand, “this watch stopped at four o’clock yesterday, and it’s not ticking at all.”
Poor Jane was found out! She had told a lie to cover up her sin in stealing the watch, and now it was all out. I cannot tell you if she was punished by her parents that day (though she should have been!), but I do know that unless that sin has been put away in the precious blood of Christ she will have to be punished some day. And when God punishes lost sinners for their sins, he will have to send them into hell forever, for sin—not even one sin—can ever enter heaven.
But God loves sinners, even though He must punish sin, and so He sent His own Son into this world and punished Him on the cross for our sins, because He did not want to punish us. What love that was! Now He waits to save sinners like Jane, or you and me, for His Word says,
ML 05/20/1951