“What’s wrong with our clock?” asked Mr. Kelly when he came home from work. “It’s 6:00 and the clock says 5:30.”
“I don’t know what has happened to it. It has always kept good time until today,” answered Mrs. Kelly. “Elsa missed her school bus this morning because of that clock.”
Mr. Kelly moved the hands of the clock around until the exact time of 5 minutes after 6:00 was reached. “Let’s see what it’s like tomorrow.”
The next morning when Mr. Kelly checked the clock he saw that it had lost even more than 30 minutes during the night. So he reset the clock again, but still it would not keep the right time. It ran slower and slower. Finally, it stopped and would not run at all.
One night after work Mr. Kelly said, “I’m going to take the back off the clock and see if I can find the problem.”
Elsa and Mrs. Kelly watched him. And what do you suppose they saw? Something had made a little home for itself inside the clock! In among all the clock parts was a silky web.
When Mr. Kelly took the back off the clock, the little spider that had made the web ran away as fast as its eight little legs could carry it.
“Good thing you got out of there in a hurry!” scolded Mr. Kelly. “You tied up the parts of our clock with all of your spinning. You and the clock are both busy workers, but you cannot work together. You had better make a home somewhere else!”
He brushed the spider’s web away. Then the parts started working again in the clock, and he set the hands at the right time. The next morning the clock was telling the right time. After that the clock told Mrs. Kelly just when to get breakfast ready, and it told Elsa that her bus was due, and no one was late again because of the clock.
You know, the clock looked okay on the outside, didn’t it? But there was trouble on the inside! That is the very same problem some people have, because there is trouble on the inside - their hearts are tied up in sin. The Bible tells us, “From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts . . . murders, thefts . . . wickedness . . . pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within.” Mark 7:21-2321For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:21‑23).
We cannot just take the back off our heart and clean out the bad things in it, like Mr. Kelly did with the spider and its web inside the clock. We have to have our heart washed clean from sin by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The heart that we are talking about is not the heart inside of us that pumps our blood. It is the part of us that loves and affects our thoughts and our understanding. We need to accept and believe the message of the gospel with this heart, not just with our minds. This is why it says in Romans 10:9,109That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9‑10), “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Won’t you accept Him in your heart as your Saviour?
ML-12/05/1993