“Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation” (Psalm 25:4–5).
My dad bought me the cutest white rabbit. I named it “Fluffy.” Because it was cold outside, Dad built a cage, and we put Fluffy and the cage in the basement. Every night for two weeks I went downstairs, fed my rabbit, and cleaned the cage. Dad told me it was my responsibility to take care of this rabbit. I wanted to make sure I did my part and followed his direction. After a few weeks, going downstairs to my rabbit and cleaning the cage were not very appealing. Taking care of my rabbit was more of a job than an enjoyment. One night my mother told me that something really smelled in the house. “When was the last time you cleaned out the cage?” she asked. It had been about a week. I told her I would be sure to clean it right away. “I’ve seen your rabbit when I’ve been in the basement,” she told me. “It needs a bath.” It had become filthy because of my lack of care.
When I went into the basement, I could hardly go near the cage—it really smelled bad. My almost-white “Fluffy” looked at me, making me feel guilty that I had neglected my job. As best as I could I washed down my struggling and scratching rabbit. Then I reached in and cleaned out the newspapers I had put down a week before. I played with my rabbit for a while and put it back inside the cage. Then I had an idea. My sister had just gotten a new bottle of perfume and bath power. I decided to make “Fluffy” really smell nice. My idea was to take that perfume and spray it in the cage and sprinkle that powder on my rabbit. I was also thinking that if I made the cage smell nice, perhaps I wouldn’t have to clean it so often!
I went upstairs, sneaked into my sister’s bedroom, got that bottle of spray perfume, put the perfume in my pocket, hid the powder under my shirt, walked quietly by my mother, went to the basement, and began to spray the cage and powder my rabbit as fast as I could before I could get caught. Then I quickly put what was left of the perfume in my pocket, held on tight to the powder, walked by my mother, saw that my sister wasn’t anywhere to be seen, went into her bedroom, and put the perfume and powder back on her dresser. I was sure that no one would suspect what I had done. But when my sister walked into the house she didn’t move. She stood still and sniffed the air. “I smell my perfume!” she said. She marched into her room and came out holding her almost-empty perfume bottle in the air. She looked right at me and glared. “What did you do?”
It was a good thing that my mother overheard and saw everything that was going on. I didn’t know my mother knew what I had done, but she did. She asked my sister and me to go to the basement with her to see what had happened to her perfume and the bath powder. Mother laughed so hard that even my sister began to laugh. Poor “Fluffy” was covered with powder. The floor of the cage was wet with perfume. It really smelled. But this time it smelled good!
My mother explained to me that what I had done was wrong. I apologized to my sister and I was never allowed to go into her bedroom again without her consent. When my dad heard what I had done, he made sure I cleaned the cage every night.
When I was eight, I wasn’t thinking about what God thought of my actions. But now I can see several character flaws that were not pleasing to God. See if you can find them in the story.
| Character flaws: | Look at what God says: |
| Romans 4:20-21 Proverbs 16:3 Proverbs 16:9 Proverbs 19:5 Leviticus 19:11 Jeremiah 23:24 Ephesians 4:32 |
God sees all we do, but if we’re saved, He will lead us into truth and into doing the right things.
My response:
» What are my character flaws?
» What sins have they led me into?
» Have I confessed those sins to God?