Recently I heard about a little boy in Children’s hospital, who had a reputation for causing havoc for the staff. A visitor, intending to help, told the boy that if he obeyed the nurses for one week, she would give him a dime when she returned. A week later she was back and asked, “I have not asked the staff, you tell me, ‘Do you deserve the dime?” After a pause, a small voice from under the sheets said, “Gimme a penny.” How like us. When God asks, “Have you obeyed my commandments?” Few would even say, “Give me a penny.” That’s because we tell “white lies”, we misbehave, in many ways. And though the word sin is not popular these days, most are aware that we do sin. Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death.” But he added, for the benefit of honest folks who believe in Jesus and ask for his mercy, ”but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell