Paul and Sue had three children who wanted a pet. So Paul went to an animal shelter to choose one. An animal shelter has pets that owners have had to give up for some reason. The shelter takes good care of these animals until a new owner chooses them and will give them a good home with love and care.
As he walked along, peering into the cages, Paul noticed a beautiful white cat. But it was a big one! He hadn’t really thought about a cat, but this one was so pretty he couldn’t pass it up. So he put the cage in the car and took it home. They found out that the pretty white cat was the biggest “scaredy-cat” you ever saw. He wouldn’t eat, and he wouldn’t let anyone pet him. He hid under the couch or under a bed. A day or so later he found an open window upstairs
and escaped.
All of the children cried, thinking that their pet was gone. But as they searched outside, they sometimes saw a white cat. They called, “Here kitty, kitty.” But he wouldn’t come. He would only sneak around the edge of their yard in the bushes.
All they wanted to do was to love that cat, and take good care of it ... but he wouldn’t let them. Some people act like that. When our Lord Jesus reaches out to let them know how much He loves them, they run away from Him. They try to hide from Him and will not come to His gentle calls. The Lord Jesus calls: “Come unto Me, all [you] that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)). He promises loving care and rest, but they will not come!
Dad went back to the animal shelter to ask them for some advice on how to catch the cat. They gave him a cage to use as a trap and told him to put some cat food in it.
Sure enough, the trap worked. But each time it was not their white cat that was caught, but one belonging to a neighbor! As time went on, it seemed they caught nearly every cat in their neighborhood except the one they wanted — their own. So Dad talked to the man at the shelter again, and he said to try putting sardines in the trap. So they reset the trap with a whole can of sardines emptied into it.
That night fierce squalling and screeching came from the cage. When they went out to check, sure enough, there was their cat in the little cage smelling awful. He had sardines all over himself!
The family made sure all the windows in the house were closed before Dad brought the cage in and let their cat out. That cat really stank! Each day he seemed to smell worse, and so did their house. It wasn’t so easy to love that cat now. But they continued to show him love anyway, even though he still didn’t seem to want it. As time went on, the cat learned to trust them, and he soon became a happy, clean pet, returning the love that the family gave him.
The Lord Jesus wants you to know that He loves you, in spite of your sins. He died to wash away your sins and to make you clean and happy, too. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:1010Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)). Will you believe His love to you? Will you let Him wash away
your sins?
Messages of God’s Love 6/23/2024