Which do you think weighs more? A cup of water or a cup of snow?
Mrs. Davis asked her first grade class this question one day. One by one, all the children answered, “A cup of snow!” - all except for one little girl named Danielle. She answered, “A cup of water.” And she was right!
It takes courage to say or do what you know is right, when everyone else is saying or doing the opposite.
Matthew 7:1314 says, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” These verses tell us that not many people choose the narrow path that leads to heaven. However, many people choose the wide path that leads to hell. Isn’t this solemn. The more popular way is the WRONG way!
We must be careful to listen to God’s Word, the Bible, and believe it and do it, whether it is the popular way or not. What God tells us is ALWAYS RIGHT. Don’t always follow the crowd and be afraid to be different, or you may be WRONG.
Are you afraid that your friends may laugh, if you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? The Lord Jesus in John 3:3 said, “Verily, verily [truly, truly], I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God [heaven].” And in verse 7 of that same chapter He said, “Ye must be born again.” That doesn’t mean that you have to become a baby again and be born a second time. It means that you need to receive a new life that God will give you, when you accept His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as your Saviour. John 1:12-13 says, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
After class Mrs. Davis asked Danielle, “Were you scared to say ‘a cup of water’ when everyone else was guessing that a cup of snow weighed more?” Sometimes we are afraid to be different, but we may be the only one who is right. “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25). “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
If you already have been born again and have that new life, you can ask the Lord Jesus for strength to do what is right, even if it means being different from others. We have no strength on our own, but the Lord can give us the courage to shine for Him. “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). When the Lord Jesus was down here, He was the light that shone in the darkness of the sinful world around Him. So He knows how it feels to be different from everyone else. He always said or did what was right, and He was often the only one who did.
“Follow not that which is evil, but that which is good” (3 John 11).
ML-10/22/2000