Carlos Alberto had been taught from infancy that stealing was wrong. So when he and his cousin were walking through the supermarket and his cousin began taking grapes, one by one, from the produce counter and eating them, he was surprised and refused to join his cousin in stealing.
Still, the grapes looked awfully good, and no one had even noticed his cousin taking the grapes. Finally, Carlos Alberto could resist no longer. Carefully, when he thought no one was looking, he reached out to take a grape -only one - from the bunches of luscious grapes on the counter. Imagine his surprise when, instead of a single grape, he found a whole bunch in his guilty hand! The single grape just would not come loose from the bunch.
“Hey!” shouted one of the supermarket employees at Carlos Alberto. Frightened, he raced out of the supermarket, looking for a place to hide. But the only place he could find to hide was under a jeep parked at the curb. His heart pounding with guilty fear, Carlos Alberto lay there under the jeep, wondering what would happen if the owner of the jeep were to come out and start his vehicle.
What a mess Carlos Alberto had gotten himself into! And all because of a single grape! Boys and girls, let us remember that little things we do can have big consequences in our lives. Adam’s one disobedience shut him out from fellowship with God and from the Garden of Eden.
I am happy to tell you that when Carlos Alberto was 15 years old he came to realize that he was a lost sinner and he received God’s gift of eternal salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross of Calvary. Today, Carlos Alberto is one of the happiest Christians I know, but he has never forgotten the lesson of the one stolen grape.
ML-07/24/1994