When I was thirteen, I had the opportunity to go horseback riding all by myself. I had often gone with a group, but never alone. I had saved up the fifty cents necessary to pay for a half-hour ride. My mom had given me permission to go, so I headed off to the stables.
The stable manager helped me get settled in the saddle and said a cheery, “See ya later.” So Brownie and I trotted off up the road.
Not long after we had turned the corner, we rode past a pasture full of cows. I was pretty good at imitating the sound of a cow mooing, so I thought I’d try mooing at these cows and see how they reacted.
Maybe you have already found out that it’s not a good idea to pretend you are something that you really aren’t. The Bible tells us about a man who pretended that he was a faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus. His name was Judas Iscariot, and maybe you remember reading about him in the Bible in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Of course, the Lord Jesus could see right into Judas’s heart and knew he was really a thief and not a true disciple at all. But Judas had the other eleven disciples fooled. However, he ended up hanging himself when things didn’t turn out the way he had planned.
Now, as Brownie and I were trotting down the road, I pretended I was a cow and let out a few loud moos to see if I could fool the cows. And I did fool them! They all came running over to the fence, mooing loudly as they ran.
But things didn’t turn out quite like I had planned either. Brownie was terrified of the cows running towards us and all the noise they were making, and he couldn’t get back to the stable fast enough! He knew his stable was a safe place, so he turned and galloped back as fast as he could. He never slowed down, and I had to duck my head down on his mane so it wouldn’t get bumped on the way through the stable doorway!
Of course, the manager wanted to know what had happened to cause Brownie to come home at such a speed, when we had only been gone for five minutes. After I told him, he said, “That was a foolish thing to do! I’m not going to give you your fifty cents back, and that’s all the ride you can have today. You should have known better.”
It’s not very serious to lose fifty cents and a horseback ride, but if you try to fool God by pretending you are saved when you’re not, that IS serious! You will end up in the “lake of fire,” along with the devil. “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:1818For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)).
God wants us to be real and true—to honestly repent in our hearts for the sins we’ve committed and to accept His Son as our very own Saviour. The Lord Jesus loves us so much that He came into this sinful world to die on the cross, shedding His blood, so that you and I could be washed clean of every stain of sin. “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)).
Don’t be a “pretender.” Accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour right now and know for sure that you are on your way to the safe place called heaven. “Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:2525The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. (Proverbs 29:25)).
ML-05/02/2010