Lina’s List

Bible Reading: Revelation 20:11-15

“Let’s see, Mrs. Garcia ordered four boxes of chocolate chip cookies, Aunt Katie wants one box of oatmeal raisin and one box of double chocolate delight, and Mrs. Jones gets three boxes of sugar cookies,” Lina murmured to herself. She was taking part in a fundraiser for her school and had sold cookies to several families in her neighborhood. Lina carefully finished filling out her order form and took it to school the next day.

When the cookies arrived, Lina double-checked the boxes with her list to make sure the orders were right. Then she went to deliver the cookies to the people who had ordered them.

When Lina stopped at the Garcias’ home, Mrs. Garcia came to the door. “Here you are,” said Lina. “Four boxes of chocolate chip cookies.”

“Hooray! Cookies!” exclaimed the Garcias’ young son, Jorge. He eagerly took a cookie from a box Mrs. Garcia had just opened.

As Lina got back on her bike, a little boy came running up to her from the house next door. “Oh!” he exclaimed when he saw what she had. “I want cookies too!”

Lina knew the boy well. His family attended the same church as her family. “I’m sorry, Nathan,” she said after checking her list, “but I don’t see your family’s name here.” She smiled at him. “I’m still taking orders, so ask your mom or dad if they’d like to buy some cookies.”

Nathan’s dad was working in the yard, and he walked over. “I heard that,” he said, “and we’d like to buy some, wouldn’t we, Nathan?” Nathan nodded eagerly.

“All right!” said Lina. “Then your name will be on my next list, Nathan, and you’ll get cookies too.”

“Your list of names makes me think of Pastor Holt’s message last week,” said Nathan’s dad. “Remember it? Pastor Holt reminded us that one day, we will all face God. He’ll look to see if our names are written in heaven. They need to be on God’s list in the Book of Life.”

“And if they are, we get to spend eternity with Him,” said Lina. She smiled at Nathan. “That’s one list you want to be sure your name is on!”

Nathan grinned at her. “It already is,” he said, “because I trusted Jesus to be my Savior!”

-Holly F. Cepeda

How About You?

Is your name on God’s list? That’s a very important question, because only those whose names are written in heaven will spend eternity with Jesus. The time to trust Him is today—right now! Admit your sin and trust Him to save you. Then your name will be written in the Book of Life in heaven. (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.)

Today’s Key Verse:
Luke 10:20 Rejoice because your names are written in heaven. (NKJV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Trust Jesus and be on God’s list