PUSS was a little kitten, the favorite playmate of Baby Ann. Mother had sat Baby Ann on the floor of the sunny porch that opened out into the garden, and Puss was playing nearby.
Not long after, Puss spied a long black thing, like a piece of rope, slithering across the floor towards Baby Ann. Now Puss loved a real scrap, and if he couldn’t find someone to fight with, he would have a mock battle with the leg of a chair, a stick, or a piece of rope. But this time “the piece of rope” was alive; it was moving across the floor, and Puss was all alert, ready for action.
The snake came on. With one bound, Puss was on its back, growling and biting all up and down the snake with his sharp teeth. Puss did not know that this was a poisonous snake, so the fight went on. Again and again the snake’s poisonous fangs pierced the kitten’s skin; still Puss snarled and fought on. However, the effect of the snake’s bite began to tell on Puss and he became so weak and faint he could fight no more.
The snake was badly mauled and chewed up, but before it slithered off out of sight apparently it made one bite at Baby Ann’s leg. Hearing Baby Ann’s cries, mother rushed out and snatched her from the floor. Thankful to say, the snake’s venom had been spent, and Baby Ann lived. Brave little Puss, however, was stretched out lifeless on the porch floor.
Baby Ann was spared, but it cost Puss his life.
There was One who came to save sinners from the serpent’s bite. The Bible tells us that that old serpent, the Devil, came into the Garden of Eden long ago, and so man fell through sin. We have all been bitten by the old serpent; we are all sinners. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12). Now the Lord Jesus came in love into this world to deliver us from the effects of the serpent’s bite, and to destroy the works of the devil.
He met the full power of Satan at the cross of Calvary, and there He died — for you and me. Now God can say, Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into [judgment]; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
O, dear young readers, have you trusted in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour?
ML-08/07/1966