Little Danny, age three, busied himself with toys in the backyard. Somehow playing with his favorite trucks in the sand and crawling through the car tire was boring, and he felt like finding a new toy. Since his parents collected things old and rustic, he had some “goodies” to look over. Suddenly his eyes rested on a rusty iron ring. It was the inside ring of a large wooden wheel from an old farm wagon. Daddy had made a neat “something-or-other” from the wheel and had tossed the ring on the pile for a future project.
Danny rolled his new toy around the patio until he was tired of doing that. Sitting on the grass, he remembered how he used to put the ring over his head to make a collar around his neck. Since small children’s head bones grow very fast in the early years of life, Danny found that this iron collar did not go over his head like it used to without a few good tugs. At last he got it to go on. “Mommy, look at me!” he called.
About an hour later Danny’s father was called to the telephone where he works. Someone heard him say, “Oh no! What did he do now? Yes, I remember he used to put it over his head. Well, try lathering him up nice and slick with shampoo. If you can’t slide it off, then you’d better bring him over.” Hanging up the phone, Daddy sighed, “That Danny!”
A little while later Mommy showed up at Daddy’s work with Danny. Sure enough, a dripping, soapy, sad-faced Danny came in with his worried Mommy. Daddy, Grandpa, and some of the other employees kept wanting to smile as they looked him over. But poor Danny did not know whether to cry or to smile. He decided that they could be trusted, however, and he stood bravely through the “rescue operation.” Mommy padded his neck well with a towel as Daddy slowly cut through the hard metal ring with a hacksaw. Soon a relieved Danny was free from his iron collar.
What a cruel iron band! This is like the band of sin. Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Sins are like iron bands from which we cannot possible get free by ourselves. Then, the wages, or payment, for sin is still to come: “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23). Call right now to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One who can deliver you. Then you will find that those bands of sin are replaced by God’s bands of love. As God said to His people of old, “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke.” Hosea 11:44I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. (Hosea 11:4). He will do this for you, because He took those very sins upon Himself and bore the punishment for them so that we do not have to reap everlasting death as our wages. All you have to do is believe that He was punished for your sins. Do you really want to serve sin and Satan and be bound tighter and tighter by those cruel bands?
Children who have already accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour can still be tempted and sin against the Lord Jesus who died for them. When this happens, it must be confessed to God. Then they can know from the Bible that they are forgiven: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).
The secret is to know what God wants us to do and then walk just as close to Him as we can. If we ask Him, He will help us to walk in a path that is pleasing to Him.
ML-12/20/1987