Jingo and Jayla

Bible Reading: John 10:7-10

Jayla’s black and white kitten dug his claws into the leg of her jeans. She shook him off and started loading the dishwasher. Meow! protested the kitten.

“What do you want, Jingo?” asked Jayla. Jingo bounced to the sliding door. “I guess you’re ready to go outside,” said Jayla. The kitten meowed and—according to Jayla—smiled. “You said, ‘Uh-huh,’ didn’t you? I’ll open the door for you as soon as I finish putting the dishes in the dishwasher.” But Jingo didn’t want to wait. He attached himself to the leg of Jayla’s jeans again. “Ouch!” she exclaimed. “Quit that!”

Jingo dropped to the floor and trotted back and forth between Jayla and the door. Finally, he stationed himself there and looked at Jayla with enormous green eyes.

Jayla laughed. “Okay, Jingo. You win. I’ll open the door for you.” She dried her hands, and with Jingo at her heels, she walked to the door. When she opened it, he bounded outside and made a beeline for his favorite spot in the sunshine.

When she was finished with her chores, Jayla went to her room. Soon she returned to the kitchen. “Mom, guess what? I was just working on learning my verse for church, and Jingo gave me an example of what it means.”

“Really?” asked Mom. “And what is that?”

“Well, Jingo knows he can’t open the door himself, so he comes to me and gets me to open it for him,” Jayla explained. “So the way outside is through me—it’s like I’m the door for him. That’s like my verse. It says Jesus is the door to salvation. We can’t get into heaven by ourselves, but when we trust in Jesus, He opens the door so we can get in—He saves us from sin and gives us eternal life.”

“That’s a good way to look at it!” said Mom, and she and Jayla laughed as they looked out the window and saw Jingo jump around on the grass, having the time of his life. “But unlike you and Jingo, Jesus doesn’t just open the door and then leave us. The Bible says He’s always with us, from now into eternity.”

“Jingo is a lot of fun,” said Jayla. “And now he’s taught me something too.”

–Glenna B. Roberts

How About You?

How do you expect to get into heaven? Do you think you can get there by being good? By obeying your parents? By going to church? It won’t work. There’s no way you can get into heaven except through the door—Jesus Christ. The only way for you to be saved and have eternal life is through Him. Trust Jesus to open the door for you today. (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page or go to www.keysforkids.org/goodnews.)

Today’s Key Verse:
John 10:9 I [Jesus] am the Door. Anyone who goes in through Me will be saved. (NLV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Jesus is the door to salvation