Remember the Duck

           Sins power is like the story of the boy who was shooting rocks with a slingshot.  He could never hit his target.  He was in his Grandma’s backyard one day, & spied her pet duck.  On impulse he took aim and let fly.  Amazingly the stone hit, and the duck was dead.  The boy panicked and hid the bird under some leaves, only to look up and see his sister watching. 

After lunch that day, Grandma told Sally to help with the dishes. Sally responded, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!”  So, Johnny did the dishes.  What choice did he have?  For the next several weeks he was doing the dishes at the sink often. Sometimes for his duty, he felt bad for Grandma and her duck, sometimes for his sin, the price he would have to pay.

“Remember the duck,” Sally would whisper when he objected to doing anything she wished. He got tired of her day after day she was wearing him out, so he decided that any punishment would be better than washing more dishes, so he confessed to killing duck.

"I know, Johnny," his Grandma said, after hearing his confession, giving him a hug. "I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing.  But because I love you, I forgave you. 

I wondered how long you were going to let your sister make a slave out of you.” Johnny had been pardoned, but he thought he was guilty. Why?  Because he listened to the words of his accuser. 

That’s sin’s power it wants you to believe that it has you captive but the truth is that you’ve been forgiven for the sin God has seen you commit.