Dino is a fun-loving, big, bouncy dog that lives with a family who loves him. The children in the family take good care of him. He is well fed, his coat is carefully brushed, he is taken for walks, and when he gets sick, they take him to the vet. The family has trained Dino to obey some commands and to do some tricks. When he obeys a command he is told, he is a “good dog,” and when he does a trick, he is rewarded with a special “doggie treat.” So Dino has a good home and is in need of nothing. But he is still a dog and has a dog’s nature.
One afternoon the whole family went away, leaving Dino home alone. One of the children left a pack of gum on the kitchen counter, pushing it back so Dino wouldn’t see it.
When the family came home several hours later, Dino did not come bounding to meet them with his tail wagging furiously like he usually did. He just stood in the kitchen with his head down and his tail between his legs. Something was wrong. Was he sick, they wondered?
A few moments later one of the children noticed torn pieces of paper scattered on the living room floor. A quick check of the kitchen counter soon ended the mystery. The pack of gum was gone. Dino had found it and eaten it. The paper on the floor was pieces of gum wrapper. Dino knew what he had done was wrong. Because he had been trained not to put his paws up on the table or counter, there was good reason why his head was down and his tail was between his legs.
Poor Dino had to be punished for what he had done. Even though he is a pretty smart dog, he will soon forget the whole thing. In fact, he will probably do the same thing again, if he gets the chance. He doesn’t have the ability to understand, since he is a dog and has a dog’s nature. That’s the way God made dogs.
God has made people much different from animals. He has given us the ability to think and understand and remember. Even so, we still do things that are wrong. If you or I were to sneak that pack of gum, we would hide the gum wrapper so we wouldn’t get caught. Then in a few days we would try to forget the whole thing.
But that’s not the end of it for you or me. We know if our parents had discovered what we had done, we would have been punished. But even so, that wouldn’t have settled the matter with God. A Bible verse says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)). So even though we thought we got away with sneaking that gum, we didn’t! God saw what we did, and He calls it sin. The Bible tells us that all sin must be punished by God. That punishment is being reserved until after we die, in an awful place called hell. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment [punishment]” (Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)).
Now here’s the good news. God loves each one of us, and He wants to forgive all our sins. But still, there’s punishment necessary for those sins. Because He loves you and me so very much, this is what He did. He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bear that punishment for sin on the cross. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)). If you are truly sorry about your sins, you should confess to the Lord Jesus Christ that you are a sinner and want Him to forgive your sins. He promises He will forgive you and then you will not have to be punished for your sins, because He already was punished for them when He hung on the cross and shed His blood. Won’t you accept and enjoy God’s love for you and thank the Lord Jesus for forgiving your sins?
ML-09/13/2015