Willie was in fourth grade. Sometimes Mrs. Snyder, his teacher, gave the children assignments to begin working on in class. What they didn’t finish at school had to be taken home and finished that evening. A parent was supposed to sign the finished homework paper, and it was to be turned in to the teacher the next day.
After a week of rain nearly every day, the weather had finally turned nice. Willie and his friends had played outside after school until time to go in for supper. Then after supper Willie had found other things to do, so the homework hadn’t been finished.
One day soon after, the telephone rang and Willie’s mother answered it. She was surprised to hear Willie’s voice on the other end. She knew something was wrong, because Willie was almost crying.
“What’s wrong, Willie?” she quickly asked.
“I . . . I . . . I didn’t finish my homework,” he choked out.
“Is that all, Willie? she asked doubtfully.
There was no mistaking, Willie was crying now. “Th . . . that was last week,” he added tearfully.
“Willie, is that the only reason you’re calling me from school?” she questioned him.
“No. You were supposed to sign that paper,” he explained.
“Willie, tell me about it.”
“Well, there were really two papers . . . and I signed them,” he confessed.
“You signed my name, Willie?”
“Yeah, and I spelled it wrong,” he blurted out tearfully.
Willie was in trouble. The first thing he had done wrong was not finishing his homework. Then to cover that up so his teacher wouldn’t notice, he had done something else wrong - he had signed his mother’s name on his papers. This made it look like his mother had seen the papers and knew about the homework. But, he had spelled his mother’s first name
Mery
instead of
Mary
Mrs. Snyder had seen the misspelled name on both papers and knew what Willie had done. Willie’s cover-up job had fallen apart. “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:2323But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23)).
We all understand Willie’s sinking, guilty feeling when Mrs. Snyder called him up to her desk and asked him about his homework and pointed out his mother’s misspelled name. Every one of us has done something that we knew was wrong. We usually got caught and had to confess what we had done and suffer the consequences.
But sometimes our cover-ups worked and we didn’t get caught. We thought we had gotten away with it. But no, we didn’t. Maybe our parents or teacher never found out, but God saw what we did. “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)). What we did God calls sin. The Bible tells us that all sin must be punished by God. That punishment is being reserved in an awful place called hell until after we die. “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)).
However, God loves you and me and He wants to forgive our sins. But still, there is punishment necessary for those sins. Because He loves you and me dearly, this is what He did. He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bear that punishment 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 and confess to the Lord Jesus that you are a sinner, He promises He will forgive you. Then you will not have to be punished for your sins, because He took that punishment for them on the cross. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:1313He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)).
Are you still covering up your sins? Won’t you confess to the Lord Jesus that you are a sinner and accept His forgiveness instead?
ML-03/07/1999