When I was a young child we spent Christmas’s at my aunt and uncle’s house. They had an open fire in the lounge filled with pinecones sprayed with gold and silver paint, all resting on a bed of newspaper. One afternoon, finding myself alone in the lounge with nothing to do, I borrowed my uncle’s lighter and played a little game – I lit the corner of the newspaper underneath the pinecones and dared myself to see how long I could let it burn before blowing it out. The inevitable happened – on my third go I left it too long and there was soon an inferno where once there had been gold and silver pinecones.
It didn’t take long for the fire to be discovered, and even though I was the only person in the house who could possibly have started the fire, I swore blind that it had not been me! I didn’t want to admit that I had done anything wrong.
It’s human nature to be like that – to deny that we have done anything wrong. God however knows better and so in His love He sent His Son Jesus to save us from our sins.
