It’s Not My Job!

Read: Isaiah 61:10; Matthew 20:28

“Jordan, could you please put Athena’s toys away while I give her a bath?” called Mom as she carried Jordan’s little sister to the bathroom.

Jordan groaned. He was right in the middle of a video game. He slammed his controller down and stomped into his baby sister’s room. “This is so unfair!” he said as he threw Athena’s toys into the toybox. “I didn’t make this mess. It’s not my job!”

After soccer practice the next day, Coach handed Jordan a big bag of dirty laundry. It was Jordan’s turn to take the soccer uniforms home to be washed. Jordan dumped the bag of filthy clothes in the kitchen.

“Hang on a minute,” said Mom. “What’s all this?”

Jordan was confused. Mom had washed the soccer uniforms countless times before. “It’s our turn to wash the uniforms,” he replied.

Mom tossed the bag back at Jordan. “Well, I don’t play soccer, so why should I wash them? It’s not my job!”

All of a sudden, Jordan’s own words came back to him. “But I can’t wash these!” he cried. “I don’t know how!”

Dad got up from his chair, a wry smile on his face. “Well then, I’ll show you!”

Dad patiently showed Jordan how to operate the washing machine. “You know, families should help one another, Jordan, and sometimes that means cleaning up someone else’s mess.”

Jordan sighed. “But cleaning up after Athena is hard!”

“Well, so is going to work every single day,” said Dad.

Jordan had never thought about that before.

“And how about Mom?” Dad continued. “She changes dirty diapers. She washes our clothes and cleans up after people all the time. Imagine if she stopped doing all those things because they weren’t her job?”

Jordan laughed. “We’d all stink!”

Dad grinned. “It reminds me of what Jesus did to save us. He came to earth and cleaned up the great big mess of sin we had made. Jesus never sinned. Not once. But He was willing to die on the cross so our sins could be forgiven. I’m so thankful He saved me and made me clean!”

“Me too!” Jordan said as he dumped the dirty uniforms into the washing machine.

–Angela Jelf

How about you? Do you moan and complain when you’re asked to clean up a mess someone else made? Jesus loves us so much He was willing to save us from the biggest mess of all that none of us were able to clean up—sin. When we trust in Him, He removes our filthy rags of sin and clothes us in garments as white as snow. (To learn more, go to Have You Heard the Good News?)

Today's Key Verse: He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:5 (NIV)

Today's Key Thought: Jesus makes us clean