A Little Bit of Sin

Do you like brownies? Have you ever baked any yourself? This morning I thought we would make a batch of brownies to eat. First, we'll add a box of brownie mix. (pour it into a big bowl) Next, the instructions say that we need just A LITTLE BIT of water, so let's pour just a LITTLE BIT of water into the mix. Then we need just A LITTLE BIT of egg (break an egg and add it to the mix) and a LITTLE BIT of nuts (add nuts). Now, let's mix everything up A LITTLE BIT. There is one more thing that the instructions don't call for that I think will make our brownies A LITTLE BIT better. I am going to add just A LITTLE BIT of cat food and we'll be done. (Of course, the kids will go nuts. "You can't put that in! It'll ruin the brownies!") I am only going to put in A LITTLE BIT of cat food in, surely just A LITTLE won't hurt! It's not that big a deal! Just this one time, just one little tablespoon won't make a big difference! Do you really think that just A LITTLE BIT of cat food will ruin the brownies? Well, of course, you are right. Even A LITTLE BIT of cat food would ruin the brownies. Sin is like this cat food. Sometimes, you might think if you only let yourself sin A LITTLE BIT, it won't hurt. Maybe you think that if you only allow yourself to do LITTLE sins (like thinking mean thoughts about your teacher, or saying you don't have any candy left to share when you do, or telling your mom you cleaned your room when you didn't) that it won't hurt you, that it is no big deal. A lot of times, we think it is only BIG SINS (like stealing or killing someone) that hurt us or separate us from God. But sin is like this cat food, even A LITTLE BIT in your life isn't good and can really mess things up, like this LITTLE BIT of cat food will mess up our brownies. We are all sinners, we know that, and we know Christ died for all our sins, but he wants us to put up the good fight against sin and to try not to let sin keep us away from him, not even A LITTLE BIT of sinning.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for forgiving us of all our sins -- both big and small. Help us to remember that they are all the same in your sight. Amen. Before you leave, I have some GOOD brownies that I bake without even a little bit of cat food for you. (Pass them out to all of them to eat.)