Hi Dan, where are you? Mrs. Armstrong was calling on her son after she finished up clearing the garden two hours after breakfast one bright Saturday morning. As it is their custom on Saturdays, after the breakfast, Daniel who is fondly called Dan practices on the piano while his mum attends to the garden. Dr. Armstrong, Dan’s Dad often rests on Saturday morning from hospital duties and plans for the new week ahead. Mrs. Armstrong entered the house and realized Dan had left the piano so, she stopped calling him seeing the need to check him in his room to know if he had slept.
On entering the room, Dan wasn’t there. She looked through the window on the right side of Dan’s room towards his playing ground but couldn’t find her son there. Thereafter, she went to their luxurious master bedroom to know if Dan is sleeping beside his father as Dan loves to do. Yet, Dan wasn’t there! Now trembling with her heart beating faster than usual, she hurriedly woke her husband who was in deep sleep to ask if he sighted their son. Apparently because he was fast asleep all along, Dr. Armstrong had no idea of Dan’s whereabouts.
More terrified and uncoordinated, she forgot there is a telephone in their master bedroom as she anxiously paced through the house to make use of the telephone in the kitchen to call an emergency line for the missing child in the neighborhood. Her initial plan of making dinner later that day using Crock-Pot to cook cheesy chicken spaghetti was no longer relevant as she approached the kitchen because a lot of thoughts about Dan troubled her mind. When she entered the kitchen, she was astonished at what she saw! Could this really be true? She thought to herself as she approached the surprising scene. It was Dan!!
She found her son consuming the leftover meatloaf and chocolate chip kept in the refrigerator. Son, what are you doing? How did you manage to bring this out despite the height of the refrigerator? Well, it is needless to respond to the first question. So, amidst the shock from the surprise entry of his mom in the kitchen at that time of the day, Dan only explained how he managed to open the refrigerator by climbing on one of the kitchen stools.
In her wildest imagination, she never thought her five-year-old son could do that as a result, red-faced Mrs. Armstrong angrily said: Did I teach you to do that?! Seeing the expression on his mum’s face and tone of her voice, Dan began to shiver even more. Why didn’t you come to tell me you were hungry? (Mrs. Armstrong continued) I have told you to always ask for whatever you need from me. I would have given it to you if you asked. Dan, you stole from the refrigerator; what you did is called stealing!!!
Just like Mrs. Armstrong, many mothers often wonder why kids act wrongly and also disobey them. Some think that, “I taught them the right things to do so, they shouldn’t go in the wrong direction”. But you need to know that kids don’t want to go wrong too, they just do not know why they desire to do so. It is largely believed that ‘to err is human’ thus, exhibiting wrong traits is viewed as part of our humanity. However, little did we know we weren’t created like that; humans err due to sinful nature inherited when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.
Nevertheless, the Good News is that God provided the cure through the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. He is given to save the world from sin. Isaiah 53 summed up the mission of God’s Son: He was to be pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins, beaten for us to be whole, and whipped for us to be healed. This mission was fulfilled when Jesus born of a virgin was crucified on the cross. His death paid the price to buy you from sin and to restore you to fellowship with God, your Maker. Jesus died so you and I can be made right in God’s sight and have peace with God.
Now, we have a new nature which is that of Righteousness. We are dead to the sinful nature thus; sin no longer has a hold on us. You can be holy as your Father is holy, it is your nature as a child of God, you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus; that is who you are. You can now enjoy unreserved privilege to stand confidently and joyfully in God’s glory and presence here on earth and after death.
Do you still find yourself walking in the old sinful nature? Then, believe and confess that Jesus died for you. You don’t have to be burdened by all the wrongs you have done. There is hope for you in Christ Jesus, all you need do is believe he died for you and accept the brand-new life of righteousness. Subsequently, live the holy life to which He has called you.
Further reading: Genesis 1 &2, Isaiah 53, Ephesians 4:24, 2Corinthians 5:17, 21