Remember the Duck

Author Unknown

 There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting discouraged, he headed back inside for lunch. As he was walking back, he saw his grandmother’s pet duck. It just so happened that he hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile only to see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch that day, the grandmother said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Grandma. Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today, didn’t you Johnny?” And then she whispered to him. “Remember the duck!” So Johnny did the dishes.

Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing, and Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help me make supper.” But, Sally smiled and said, “Well, that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.” And she whispered again, “Remember the duck!” Sally went fishing, and Johnny stayed at the house!

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, he finally could not stand it any longer. He came up to his grandmother and confessed that he killed the duck. She knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. It does my heart good to see you admit you’re wrong, and because I love you, I forgive you. But I was wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

There are a lot of Christians today that are just like the little boy in the illustration in that they try to hide their sins or deny their faults. However, we cannot deny it nor hide it because we all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). The Bible tells us that God will forgive those who have sinned. We can be forgiven today because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross of Calvary (Romans 5:8). But we must admit our sins (I John 1:8-10). Don’t want to become Satan’s slave? Accept God’s forgiveness by trusting and obeying Him. The Bible says that if we believe on the name of Jesus, repent of past sins, confess the name of Christ, and are baptized into Christ, then God will forgive our sins.