AUGUST 19,  1 Timothy 5:22

The bright blue cup slipped from Janelle’s hands and crashed to the floor. “Oh, no!” she gasped, and she muttered some words under her breath before adding, “I broke a cup!” “Janelle!” exclaimed Grandma, who was washing dishes while Janelle wiped them. “If you said what I think you did, you should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Oh, Grandma! It’s not that bad,” protested Janelle as she picked up pieces of the broken cup. “Everybody at school says stuff like that.”

“Oh, they do, don't they?” asked Grandma. “Well, you’re not ‘everybody,’ so you don’t have to do what ‘everybody’ does. Now… when you’ve picked up all the pieces of that cup, sit down here.” Grandma dried her hands and pulled out a chair. She got a tube of glue out of a drawer and placed it on the table. “I want you to put all those pieces together again.” “Put them together!” exclaimed Janelle. “That’s impossible.”

“Do your best.” Grandma held up a hand as Janelle started to protest. “Don’t say a thing and don’t get up until you’re finished,” Grandma added firmly.

Janelle worked a long time. Finally, she was finished, but the cup didn’t look like it had before. There were cracks everywhere, the surface was rough, and there were many little chipped spots. “Grandma, is this good enough?” Janelle asked. “I can’t make it look any better.”

“I’m sure you can’t - that cup will never be the same,” agreed Grandma. “I want you to remember that if you do things just because everybody else does, your life can become messed up worse than the cup. Using that excuse for the way you behave often results in doing things that are wrong-and many sins have lifelong consequences. Can you understand what that can do to your life?”

Janelle glanced at the cup. “I guess it could end up looking ugly,” she murmured.

Grandma nodded. “God forgives when you repent-when you’re sorry for your sin and turn from it. But that doesn’t change the effect sin has had on your life,” she said. “Jesus can help you make better choices than those everybody else makes. Trust and follow Him, not the crowd.”

Thought: Whose example do you follow? Do I dare to be different and follow God?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may I have the courage to be different and follow You. In Jesus’ name, amen.