The squirrels in the park are used to being around people. Children and adults often feed them. One day two boys were giving peanuts to a squirrel. After the squirrel took a peanut out of their hands, he ran a little way into the woods and dug a hole. He dropped the peanut in the hole and then covered it with dirt and leaves to hide the place. He would come back later, dig it up and eat the peanut, just as squirrels usually do.
A blue jay, quietly sitting on a branch, was watching the action. Blue jays can be noisy at times, but this one sat still and quiet. After the squirrel buried the peanut and ran back to the boys for another one, Mr. Blue Jay flew down from his branch and dug up the peanut. Then he carried it in his beak as he flew back to the tree to eat it.
This reminds us of a parable in the Bible that tells of a man planting seeds. Some of his seeds fell on hard ground. The seeds stayed on top of the ground, and so the birds came and ate the seed and nothing grew.
Jesus explained that this is like people who hear the Bible read but do not pay attention to what they hear. The devil comes and takes away what they hear so they learn nothing from it, just as the birds came down and ate the seed. If you or I do not pay attention to what the Bible tells us, we will not learn from God.
Jesus has told us the truth. We are all sinners and need to believe in Him. It is so simple if we do exactly what Jesus told us in this verse. “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life” (John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)). If you believe in Jesus, trusting only in Him to save you from your sins, you have everlasting (or eternal) life. When Jesus comes, He will take you with Him into heaven.
Satan is like the blue jay. He does not want boys and girls and men and women to believe on Jesus. He wants you to forget that you need to be saved from your sins.
Now I’ll tell you the rest of the story. One time the squirrel turned around quickly and saw the blue jay stealing his peanut. The squirrel made a loud, chattering noise, scolding the blue jay, and the blue jay just flew up into the tree. The squirrel ran up the tree to chase him, and the blue jay quickly flew away.
The Bible says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee [run away] from you” (James 4:77Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)). Don’t listen to anyone who says that you are all right the way you are and that you don’t need to be saved from your sins. That is a lie from the devil who does not want you to be saved. Instead, believe what Jesus says and let Him save you.
ML-12/15/2002