LITTLE Arlene was a bright, lively little lass. She and her friends could often be found on Saturday afternoons, wading in a stream near the old mill at the edge of the quiet village where she lived, It was many years ago, and the mills were not run by powerful motors as they are today.
The miller was a kind old man, and he often asked the children in to see the great millstones by which the grain was ground. He had a big pair of scales too, which he used for weighing sacks of grain, and Arlene and her friends used to delight to step on those scales and have the old man tell each one how much she weighed. Then, in his quaint and quiet way, he used to say,
"And now, girls, remember that the Bible says, 'Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.' I hope you may not be found wanting when you stand before God."
I don't think the little ones really knew what he meant, but Arlene remembered the text and she thought of it often. She knew that she would have to stand before God some day, and she felt somehow, that she was not ready. One day, all alone, she went to the old miller with her question.
"Please, Mr. Miller, can you tell me what that text means about the balances?"
"Yes, my dear, I think I can tell you. You see, God has been watching you and me, and all the other boys and girls all the time, and He has written down all the things we have done, and all the words we have said. They make a heavy load of sins, Arlene, and there is nothing that you or I can do to take away those sins. If we were weighed in God's balances, we would surely find ourselves guilty before Him."
"Oh, Mr. Miller, what can we do? I do want to be ready to meet God. I do want to go to heaven someday."
The old man smiled. "Yes, little girl, and the Lord Jesus wants to have you in heaven too. And because He loves you, He came all the way down from heaven to suffer for those very sins on the cross. Before He died, He said, 'It is finished, and His precious blood was shed to wash all those sins away. When I was a young boy, I came to Him with the burden of my own sins, and He has saved me, and now I know that all that terrible load of sins is gone forever."
Not much more was said, but Arlene just sat quietly thinking. Presently she got up and walked slowly home. But the very next day she was back at the mill, with a shining happy face.
"Oh, Mr. Miller," she cried, "I have accepted the Lord Jesus as my Saviour and I know my sins are gone. I am not afraid of God's scales now, for Jesus is my Saviour."
Messages of the Love of God 3/23/1958