It was around eleven o’clock at night. There was a very loud thump, and then cans were rattling on our back patio.
We switched on the light, and there were three busy raccoons trying to empty our garbage can! In fact, they had managed to get the garbage can lid off and had tipped the can over. They weren’t one bit embarrassed about what they were doing, even though the light was shining on them. They just went on pulling out the plastic bags and tearing them apart when something smelled like food.
You know, boys and girls, those raccoons were acting very much like us. The raccoons didn’t care that the garbage can had a lid on it to keep them out. That didn’t stop them. And sometimes we see our school friends or other friends taking things that don’t belong to them, and they don’t seem to care. Even when they know it is wrong, that doesn’t stop them. And maybe you have taken something that doesn’t belong to you, even when you know it is wrong. Every one of us is guilty of taking something that didn’t belong to us. We need to always remember that God calls it stealing, and stealing is sin. He tells us, “Let him that stole steal no more” (Ephesians 4:2828Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. (Ephesians 4:28)). Every day we need to ask the Lord Jesus to help us to do what is right and what will please Him.
ML-03/13/2005