Katy lived on a dairy farm. She had just finished helping her daddy and brothers with the evening chores. It was dark outside as she carried a jug of milk down to the house for her mother.
Nearing the house, she could see two small animals coming toward her.
“Hello, Nip and Tuck,” she called. “How are my two kitties?” She knelt down and with her free hand scooped up the first kitten to reach her. “How’s Nip?” she asked, holding the half-grown cat snugly against her. “It’s sure good to see you. Have you been a good kitty today?”
Katy stopped walking as the second animal came up. “How am I going to pick you up, Tuck, with my hands full?” she said as she set down the jug and reached out to scoop up the second “kitten” with her free hand.
Suddenly, Katy noticed something was different. Even in the dark the little animal did not act like Tuck. Katy pulled her hand back and looked at the animal carefully. It was almost beside her now. In the dim light that shone from the kitchen window, Katy saw that this “kitten” had a bushy tail and white stripes down its back!
“Oh, a skunk!” she quietly exclaimed, standing up very slowly. “Please be kind.” She held her breath as she backed up a few steps. Then she walked in a wide circle around that “kitten.”
Looking back, Katy saw that the skunk had disappeared off in the darkness. She slowly walked back and picked up the jug of milk, and then hurried into the house and told her mother what had happened.
“What a mistake I made! I thought a skunk out there was Tuck! Just think what would have happened if I had picked him up!”
We could often make a similar mistake by looking at boys and girls and mistaking them for Christians, just because they act like Christians. They may go to Sunday school regularly. Perhaps they obey their parents and try to be nice to their brothers and sisters. They fool almost everyone into thinking that they are really saved. But God cannot be fooled; He sees those “stripes of sin.”
How important it is for each of us to ask the Lord Jesus to forgive our sins. If we do, He has promised to be with us and guide us all through our lives until we are safely in heaven with Him.
ML-06/05/1983