Wet Cement

Bible Reading: Isaiah 43:25; Hebrews 10:10-12; 1 John 1:9

“Hey, Leon, get me a stick!” shouted Calvin. Leon shrugged and brought a stick over to where Calvin was squatting.

“Look at this,” said Calvin. Leon watched as Calvin wrote his name into a patch of wet cement.

A car on the other side of the park honked. “That’s my mom,” Calvin said, handing the stick to Leon and heading off.

Leon took off his backpack and squatted down to admire Calvin’s name in the cement. Then he tried to write his own name, but he messed up on the n. He tried to fix his mistake, but the more he tried, the more messed up it got.

Dad’s voice startled him from behind. “Hey, what are you doing?”

Leon jumped up. “Nothing much.”

“You know better than to mess with other people’s property, right?” Dad said firmly.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Leon said, looking down at the mess on the sidewalk. “I shouldn’t have done it, but I don’t know how to smooth it out.”

Dad sighed and looked across the park to where workers were gathered around a cement truck. “We’ll have to ask the cement workers to come over and smooth it out. Better to let the professionals fix it than to make it worse.”

They walked over to the cement truck, and soon the workers came over and smoothed out the writing, warning Leon not to do it again. Leon apologized, and then he and Dad started the drive home.

Dad peered over at Leon. “I’m very proud of you for admitting you were wrong and apologizing today, Leon.” He paused. “Today at work I made a mistake and blamed it on someone else. I don’t know what I should do.”

Leon turned to face Dad. “I apologized because I know that’s what Jesus wants me to do when I do things that are wrong. And just like how the cement workers wiped my mess clean, when I ask Jesus to forgive me, He wipes my mistakes clean too.”

Dad looked thoughtful. “You know, I’ve never really believed in your Jesus. Do you really think He’d forgive me for the bad things I’ve done?”

Leon nodded. “Of course He will, Dad. He can be your Jesus too!” Gabriella Hsu

How About You?

Have you done something that you know is wrong? Jesus promises to forgive any sin and wipe it clean for those who trust in Him. If you haven’t already, trust in Him as your Savior. (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.) Then, when you do something wrong, tell Jesus and ask Him to forgive you, and trust Him to help you not do it again.

Today’s Key Verse:
Isaiah 43:25 I am the one who wipes away all your sins. Isaiah (ERV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Jesus wipes our sins away