Did your cat ever have kittens? What an exciting time it is for the children in a family when the mother cat finally lets everyone see and hold her furry little babies! How much fun it is to watch them change from helpless, blind little things to scampering, roly-poly, cuddly, mischievous balls of fluffy energy.
But then, in most city families, there comes a day when Mother finally says, very firmly, “Those little beasts have to go!” Sometimes a sign goes up on the front lawn— “FREE KITTENS.” Sometimes Mother says, “Why don’t you bring Billy Foster over after school to see the kittens?” She knows it won’t take much to have Billy begging, “Please, Mom! Puleeeeez, can’t I have the little black one with white paws? I’ll take care of it, Mom, I promise!”
Kevin’s mother was at her wits’ end with the latest litter of Blackie’s kittens. They got into her knitting, they tried to climb up the living room curtains, they chased each other up and down the furniture, and tormented Trixie, the dog, every time she tried to take a quiet nap. Finally Mother said it: “Those little beasts have to go!”
That afternoon when Kevin came home from school, he burst in the front door shouting, “Good news, Mom! I got rid of one of the kittens!”
“Really?” asked Mother. “How?”
“I traded it to Chris Bell for his valuable white rat!” Kevin beamed.
Mother nearly fainted. The idea of a large white rat being added to the family was the last thing she wanted.
“But, Mom, he’s had all his shots and he’s very tame!”
What could she do? The trade had been approved by Chris’s mother, and Kevin stood there with his new pet in his hands.
Kevin’s white rat lived in a cage in the cellar. He seemed to get loose at very bad times. Mother would be carrying a load of clean clothes up from the laundry room when she would suddenly feel the rat’s tail as it scampered over her foot. It almost made her drop the clothes from fright! Sometimes it startled her by popping up from under the laundry tubs. Mother even tried to be friendly to the rat, but I’m afraid it never had the warm spot in her heart that it had in Kevin’s.
One day the poor rat met its end—in the paws and teeth of the mother cat. Kevin was terribly sad, but Mother and Kevin’s sisters secretly were glad.
I can’t help but think of how eagerly Kevin announced his “good news.” Boys and girls, do you know about the greatest news there is—God’s good news? The word “gospel” means “good news.” We were all lost and ruined sinners on our way to a lost eternity in hell—without God and without hope. But God sent His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, to die on the cross of Calvary and take the punishment for all who would believe in Him. He suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. God’s good news is that He is now offering salvation to anyone who will receive the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. That is really good news—the best ever! Have you received Jesus as your Saviour?
For those of you who have accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, are you eagerly passing on the “good news"? “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16).
ML-03/25/1984