“Mom said, ‘Yes!’ ” I hollered as I ran over to the cabin where my friend Audrey and I slept. “We can go on an overnight campout, and we can take Helen with us too!”
Helen was my five-year-old sister. Audrey and I were almost 12, but Helen was such a good sport we really liked having her do things with us.
Quickly we began gathering up everything we would need -sleeping bags, food, bathing suits, insect repellant. Soon the canoe was loaded and we were on our way with Helen nested in a bundle of stuff in the middle. Audrey and I paddled as fast as we could. We were headed to the sandy beach farther up the lake where we wanted to set up camp for the night.
After we arrived, we unrolled the canvas and straightened our sleeping bags out on it in a neat row. Then we changed into our bathing suits and went for a swim. The water was quite shallow and clear as crystal. The lake bottom was firm sand - a really nice place to play.
After a good swim we built a fire and got out the can of spaghetti-Os for our supper. I began looking through the stuff for a can opener. “Oh, great!” I said. “I must have forgotten the can opener. Maybe if we just put the can in the fire it will get soft enough so I can poke a hole in the lid with this sharp stick.” Audrey wasn’t too sure it would work, but we tried it anyway.
When we thought it had been in the fire long enough, Helen went up close to inspect it.
“You’d better not get too close,” I warned her. “It just might explode.”
Helen obediently moved back a few steps, and just then the can gave a mighty “POP!”, spewing spaghetti-Os in every direction!
Helen was covered from head to toe with spaghetti-Os and sauce, and it was all over the ground. Even the bottom of the lake had Os of spaghetti scattered under the calm, clear water for as far as you could see. It was hard to imagine that one can could hold so much.
The contents of that can could have been very helpful to us. It could have been our supper. And that’s the way it is with the good or bad in us. If we have come to the Lord Jesus for salvation and we are living for Him, there is no way to measure how much good we can spread, by His grace, to others. But if we have only our own sinful nature, or even if we are Christians but are letting that sinful nature control us, there’s no telling how much harm we can cause to those around us. God tells us in Romans 14:77For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. (Romans 14:7) that “none of us [lives] to himself, and no man [dies] to himself.” We are always affecting the lives of other people around us. And in 2 Corinthians 5:1515And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:15), God tells us that the Lord Jesus “died for all, that they which live [those who have trusted in His precious blood to wash their sins away and have that new life in Christ] should not . . . live unto themselves, but [live for] Him which died for them, and rose again.” That is how we can be helpful to those around us. They will see that we are living to please Jesus and may ask us about it. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)).
Is your life helpful or harmful to those around you?
ML-07/01/2001