Julie was looking for something to do while her mother was busy fixing dinner. She was trying to be helpful to her mother. She had already set the table for dinner. She had taken her bath and had on clean clothes. Daddy would be home from work soon, and then they would be eating dinner.
Walking out into the backyard, Julie saw that the birdbath had nearly dried up. I know, she thought, I’ll fill the birdbath so the birdies can have a drink.
As she ran to get the watering can, she remembered what her mother had said to her after she had gotten cleaned up: “Don’t play in water, because you always get your clothes wet.” Mom won’t call this playing in water, she thought. This is really helping.
She made a trip to the faucet to fill the watering can. Slowly she poured it into the birdbath. I think one more can of water will fill it, she thought as she ran back to the faucet again. Soon she returned and, climbing back up on the box, she began to empty the can of water.
But there was one important thing that she had not noticed. The birdbath was not sitting evenly on its stand. It was slightly tipped to one side, so that while on the opposite side it looked like it was only partly full, the side closest to her was nearly spilling over. As Julie poured in that last can of water, it poured over the full side, right down the front of her clean clothes. It surprised her so much that she suddenly stepped back off the box, lost her balance and fell right into the flower bed!
Picking herself up and looking at her wet, dirty clothes, she said, “Now what will Mom say?”
“What do you think I’m going to say, Julie?” said her mother who had just come outside.
“I was trying to help you by filling the birdbath,” explained Julie, nearly in tears. “I didn’t mean to make all this mess.”
“You never mean to make messes,” answered her mother, “but when will you remember that the best way to help me is always to do what I tell you? Come on in now and change your clothes.”
Julie was only trying to help, but she really was disobeying her mother. Are you doing the very same thing to God? Are you trying to do your very best to please Him, but actually you’re disobeying Him instead? Some people think they can earn their way to heaven by doing good deeds. But the Bible tells us what God says about this idea: “All [your] righteousnesses [good deeds] are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)).
If even the best things that we do are seen by God as “filthy rags,” how can we ever expect to please Him? We can’t, unless we follow His instructions given to us in the Bible. He tells us that the Lord Jesus already has done everything that’s needed for us to be accepted into heaven. The Lord Jesus loved us so much that He went to the cross to be punished for sinners. To obey Him, we must admit that we are sinners and cannot please Him and then accept what He has already done for us. If we believe that He was punished on the cross for our sins, then we can know for sure that we are saved. “To obey is better than sacrifice [to suffer loss]” (1 Samuel 15:2222And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)).
ML-09/04/2005