NOVEMBER 8

Psalm 34:14

Kok Wan was not sure exactly what a stroke was, but his grandmother had one several months ago. Since then, she could not walk very well and her left arm hung loosely at her side. Mom said that the stroke had paralysed one side of Grandma’s body.

“I pray for you every day,” Kok Wan told his grandmother one afternoon. “I’ve been praying that you’ll get all better, Grandma.”

“Thank you, Kok Wan. I’ve been praying, too,” said Grandma. “I knew this old body would give out sooner or later. It happens to the best of us, you know.” Grandma smiled. She always had a smile, even though she was unable to do many of the things she had done so often before.

“That stroke paralysed some of my muscles,” she continued. “That’s bad enough, but did you know that lots of people in the world are paralysed in a different way, and some of them don’t even know it?” Kok Wan was surprised. “Really?” he asked. “How could anyone not know that he’s paralysed?”

“I’m thinking about sin,” explained Grandma. “Sin can work like a stroke and paralyse people.”

After thinking about Grandma’s words, Kok Wan shook his head. “I don’t get it,” he said. Grandma took a pair of scissors and gently poked her left arm with it. “When I poke my arm like this, it doesn’t hurt anymore. My arm has lost both its strength and its feeling,” she said. “It’s like that with sin. Sometimes people just keep on doing something wrong until it doesn’t ‘hurt’ any more. They lose the feeling of guilt for doing wrong, just like I’ve lost the feeling in my arm.”

Kok Wan nodded solemnly. “My Sunday School teacher told me that Ephesians 4:30 says that we grieve the Holy Spirit when we disobey the Word of God and live unholy lives”.

“That’s right,” agreed Grandma. “When you sin, you must repent and seek God’s forgiveness. I pray daily that whenever you’re tempted to sin, you will pray to the Lord for strength not to yield to temptation. I pray you’ll never do a wrong thing over and over until it doesn’t hurt anymore!”

Thought: Are you concerned when you do something wrong? Or have you become less and less troubled by a wrong thing you do?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me not to sin repeatedly but to seek strength from Thee to overcome temptations. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.