Two little birds flew off from their mother’s nest that fine morning with not a cloud to mar their happiness. Awakened in the early hours by the singing of birds all around them they had joined in the chorus, and then their mother had brought them their breakfast of fat worms and grubs. Now they were spreading their wings and looking for adventure.
Away they flew, farther and farther afield, gaining more confidence as they tested their wings. Soon one of them spotted a strangely-colored stream below which called for closer inspection. With a cheery “peep” to his little brother he flew down to find out what this yellow, sweet-smelling stream was like. Unknown to them, they were flying around a famous chocolate factory, and the sweet river was a stream of syrupy glucose.
The little birds could not resist dropping down and taking a taste. Oh, how sweet and pleasant it was! And for some time they hovered low and hopped about dipping their beaks in the sweet-flowing liquid and enjoying themselves to the full.
Then feeling satisfied they stretched their wings to fly home again; but, to their horror, their feet were stuck fast in the sticky stuff. The more they flapped their wings, the deeper they seemed to sink. Soon the syrup was all over their wings and feathers, and they were a sad mess. Their case was desperate had not some kind man seen their plight and reached out his hand to rescue them both.
He lifted them out of the sticky liquid, took them to a nearby stream and washed all the syrup off their legs and wings. How bedraggled and forlorn they looked, but he put them down on a rock in the warm sunshine where they soon dried off. Then oh joy, when they stretched their wings, they found they could fly again. They circled around their rescuer, as if to show their gratitude, then away they flew and soon were safe at home with the rest of the family.
How like so many boys and girls and grown-ups, too! We see something that looks new and exciting, and though perhaps we are not sure it is the right thing to do, we want to try it—and the tempter is always ready to whisper, “Go on, try it, you can stop when you want to.” But we find when we try to leave it, we are caught and cannot get away.
This was Adam’s and Eve’s sad experience in the Garden, in the beginning, when they took the fruit of the tree which they had been told not to eat. When they had eaten it, they found they were caught in a way they had not expected. Their consciences told them they had sinned against God, and now they had put themselves under Satan’s power. When God came to meet them, they were afraid and hid themselves behind the trees. They had fallen into sin and could not get out of it. And we are like them, children of fallen Adam, and sinners, too, “for there is no difference, for all have sinned.”
But God loved man in spite of his disobedience and sin. He knew what would happen, and long before sin entered into the world He had devised a plan and a remedy whereby He could save His poor fallen creatures. He gave His only begotten Son and “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
Our sin called for judgment and blood must be shed, for “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” The Lord Jesus took our place, He died for us and His life blood flowed at Calvary—the proof that death had come in. Now those who trust in Jesus for their salvation can say, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7). O, who would not love and serve such a precious Saviour and Friend!
ML-11/19/1978