Daily Devotional for July 8, 2017
Monkey Business (Part 2)
Naomi pulled the curtain back from the living room window and watched her pet monkey pace around the yard. “Mickey’s not happy being outside by himself,” she told her mom. “But he’s been naughty, so I’m going to leave him there for a while.”
Mom nodded. “I saw him pulling at the edge of the door, but he couldn’t open it.” She handed Naomi a book. “I think Dad forgot this when he left for the church this morning. How about running it over to him?”
“Okay,” said Naomi. “I’ll go right now.”
Mickey, who had gone to the cool crawl space under the house, saw Naomi leave. When she returned, he was ready and waiting for his chance to get back into the house. As Naomi opened the door, Mickey jumped out from his hiding place and ran in behind her. She didn’t see him, and she let the heavy door snap shut. It closed on Mickey’s tail.
Mickey turned around and grabbed his tail like a rope. He pulled his hardest, but it was no use. His tail was stuck tight in the door. He chattered and cried in desperation.
Naomi gasped and ran back to help him. She opened the door with one hand and scooped Mickey into her arms with the other. He swished his injured tail and rubbed the spot where the door had slammed on it. “Oh, your poor tail!” cried Naomi. “You should have let me help you instead of trying to get loose by yourself and pulling on it so hard.”
As Naomi comforted Mickey, a thought struck her. “I was once like you,” she told him. “I knew about Jesus, but I didn’t think I needed Him. I thought if I was good enough, I’d be able to make it into heaven. But just like you found you needed me to free your tail so you could come into the house, I realized I needed Jesus to free me from sin so I could go to heaven.” The little monkey snuggled down in Naomi’s arms. “There now,” she said. “I rescued you, and you’re safe and loved. Maybe if I use you as an example, I can help others who are still trying to work their way into heaven understand that they need Jesus too.” – Teresa B. Chiano
How about you?
Are you trying to get into heaven all by yourself? Do you think if you do enough good things and avoid enough bad things, you’ll be able to sneak in? It won’t work. You need Jesus. Why not admit you’re a sinner and let Him rescue you? He loves you and died for you. He’s the only way to heaven. (See “The ABCs of Salvation” on the right side column of this page.)
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