Little Germs

Bible Reading: 1 John 1:5–9

Ashton blew his nose loudly, then pulled his blanket close to his chin. “Ughhh,” he groaned. “I feel horrible!”

His sister was sitting safely away on the other side of the living room. “Today at school I learned about germs that cause sickness,” Skylar told him. “Germs are so small, you can’t see them, except maybe if you’re looking through a microscope.”

Ashton frowned. “If they’re that small, how can they make me feel so awful?”

“Once the germs get into your system, they multiply and fight you, and if they win, you get sick,” Skylar replied. She grinned at her brother. “So beware of little germs!”

“Too late,” Ashton said as he blew his nose again.

“Maybe I’ll talk about germs in my Sunday school lesson this week,” said Dad. “It’s a good illustration of the way sin works in our lives.”

“What do you mean?” asked Skylar.

“Well, when we fail to spend time with Jesus or think about how He wants us to live, it’s easy to become careless and forget how much He hates sin and how it hurts us,” explained Dad. “At first, we may hardly know it’s there.”

“Like little germs,” Skylar said. “We forget they’re there too.”

Dad nodded. “Or if we do remember, we may figure they’re small and won’t bother us. We may think some wrong thing we do is just a little sin and doesn’t really matter. But in God’s sight, there are no little sins. When we know we’ve done something wrong, we need to confess it to Jesus right away. He’ll forgive us and make us feel healthy again.”

“I wish I felt healthy again,” Ashton said between coughs.

Dad went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water. “Germs are little things that can cause us a lot of trouble,” he said, handing the glass to Ashton. “And so-called little sins can cause a lot of trouble too. God hates all sin, and it needs to be confessed and dealt with, no matter how small it seems.”

How About You?

Do some wrong things seem small and unimportant to you? God doesn’t see them that way. In His sight, there is no little sin—He hates all of it. Maybe you disobeyed your mom and sneaked a couple cookies, had unkind thoughts, or told what you considered to be just a little lie. Get those things out of your system by confessing them to Jesus and receiving His forgiveness.

Today’s Key Verse: 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. (NKJV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Confess all sins—even “little” ones