Guilty as Charged

Bible Reading: Romans 3:10-12; 6:23

“There has been a lot of note-passing going on lately,” announced Mrs. Barnes. “Anyone I see passing a note from now on will stay in at recess.”

Cam nodded. He had noticed a lot of the kids passing notes too.

The next day, Cam watched as Lincoln and Josiah passed notes back and forth. They’d better watch it, he thought, or they’re gonna have to stay in for recess. He decided to write a note to warn his friends to be careful.

As Cam slipped his note to Josiah, Mrs. Barnes looked up. “Cam, Josiah, and Lincoln—you will all stay in at recess today.”

“Me?” asked Cam. “What did I do?”

“I saw you passing a note,” said Mrs. Barnes. “You will stay in with the other boys.” And so the three boys spent afternoon recess at their desks.

That evening, Cam complained about his punishment. “I wrote one note!” he grumbled. “The other guys wrote lots more. It’s not fair!”

“How many notes did Mrs. Barnes say you could write?” asked Dad.

“Well…none. But I still think she could have let me play outside at least half the time since the others wrote so many more notes than I did!”

“Even though you only wrote one note, you were guilty as charged, weren’t you?” said Dad.

“I guess, but I still wasn’t as bad as the others,” Cam insisted.

“Your argument reminds me of people who think God should excuse them because they don’t think they’re as bad as other people they know,” said Dad. “The fact is that everyone has sinned, and the Bible says that makes each one of us a sinner guilty before God, no matter how our sins compare to someone else’s. You passed a note in class knowing it was against the rules, and you got the punishment you deserved.”

Cam sighed and propped his head on his elbows. “I guess I did deserve to stay in at recess,” he finally admitted. He gave his dad a sideways glance. “You’re gonna point out that we don’t need to be punished for our sin though, aren’t you?”

Dad grinned. “I sure am! Even though each one of us deserves that punishment, Jesus died on the cross to save us from it. He took the punishment for our sin so we wouldn’t have to!”

-Hazel W. Marett

How About You?

Do you think you’re pretty good—better than a lot of kids you know? God says everyone is a sinner. We’re all equally guilty of breaking God’s law, and we all deserve to be punished. But the wonderful thing is that Jesus died to take the punishment for our sin. Instead of suffering the eternal death you deserve, you can have eternal life with God! Trust Jesus as your Savior today. (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.)

Today’s Key Verse:
James 2:10 Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (NIV)

Today’s Key Thought:

All sin deserves punishment