“OUCH, you hurt, you naughty darling,” seems to say poor grandfather as he tries to arrest the chubby hand that tugs at his whiskers. What has displeased Master Baby that he is in such a tantrum? Perhaps he has to wait for his breakfast, or maybe he wants some bright object he cannot have; I do not know, but I can see that he has a will of his own, and he is doing his best to show that he does not like to be crossed. He is only a baby, and does not know any better, so we smile at him and love him just the same. But this same will, displayed so early, shows that, in himself, he is a sinner, though he does not yet know he is doing wrong. When he is older, it will lead him to do other things displeasing to God, proving what the Bible says is true, that we have all turned to our own way; that we, without Christ, are lost.
Can it be possible that this dear, innocent babe is a sinner, and, as such, needs a Saviour just as much as his grandfather? Yes, truly; but the Son of Man (Jesus) came to save that which was lost. If when Baby is old enough to understand, he trusts the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, he will, in spite of his sinful nature, be fit to live forever in heaven in the presence of a holy God, so clean and fit will he have become.
Does it seem to you, children, that you can ever, ever be as old as Grandfather? Will you become wrinkled and toothless like him? When you are seven, eight, or at the most, nine times your own age, should you still be living, you will look back over your past and say,
“It seems such a short time since I was a child!”
If you will have lived during those years to please the Lord, (of course no one but saved people can do that) you will be full of joy at the thought of soon seeing Him, but if those years have been spent for your own pleasure, you will say, like an old Christian I know of, on his dying bed,
“I am ashamed to die, I have done nothing for the Lord, I have lived for myself!”
So, let us each pray this short prayer with Moses the man of God:
“SO TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS, THAT WE MAY APPLY OUR HEARTS UNTO WISDOM.” Psalm. 90:12.
ML 12/17/1922