NOVEMBER 28, Psalm 139:23-24

Emily’s sweater crackled with static electricity as she pulled it over her head. She wet a comb to tame her fly-away hair and hurried for breakfast. “What’s so funny?” Emily asked her brother, as she took her seat at the table. “There’s a sock stuck to your back!” said Brian. “Oops!” said Mom as she removed the sock from Emily’s sweater, “That’s caused by what we call ‘static electricity’. It makes things stick to each other in very dry places.” After breakfast, Mom picked up the family Bible. “Let’s read a few verses before you go to school,” she said, “and let’s do a little checking to be sure there isn’t sin clinging to our lives, kind of like that sock stuck to your back.”

“I don’t have any sin stuck in my life,” Emily stated confidently. “Are you sure?” asked Mom. Brian smirked. “Yeah, Emily! What about the way you shove stuff under your bed when Mom tells us to clean our rooms?” he asked, “You do that all the time.”

“Well… I don’t really consider it sin when I do that. After all, I did clean up eventually,” said Emily, scowling at Brian. “Besides, what about not helping your sibling?” Mom shook her head. “It’s like the sock again,” she said. Both Emily and Brian looked puzzled. “What do you mean?” asked Emily. “Like you said, the sock on your back was easy to see,” replied Mom, “but it took someone else other than you to see it. Sin can be like that – plain to see, but somehow we don’t always see it in our own lives. Someone else often does. That seems to be what happened just now.”

“You mean because we both pointed out what the other one did wrong?” asked Brian.

“That’s right,” said Mom. “We need to ask God to examine our hearts and show us our own sin. Then, we need to confess it and ask Him to help us overcome it.” She raised her eyebrows. “Understand?” she asked. Both kids nodded.

Thought: Do you regularly ask God to examine your heart and reveal any sin in your life?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me not to look at other people to find out what sin they might be clinging to, but to look at my own faults, my own sins. Help me not to cling to sin or allow it to cling to me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.