Hiding Something Good

Read: Romans 5:6-8; 8:38-39 Cali opened her eyes. “Ready or not, here I come!” Her three-year-old sister, Nora, stood behind a scrawny tree hugging her teddy bear. Cali pretended to look around. “Where could Nora be?” she wondered aloud. Ruff, ruff! Cali’s dog ran out of the house and straight to Nora. Nora laughed. “Cocoa found me!” “Lunchtime!” Mama called from the porch. A wonderful aroma met them inside. “Cookies!” squealed Cali. “Can I have one?” Mama took a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge. “No cookies until after lunch.” Nora peeked around Mama. “Is Teddy in there? I think he’s still playing hide-and-seek.” “No Teddy in the fridge.” Mama shut the door. “Let’s check outside.” As soon as Mama and Nora left the kitchen, Cali slid a cookie from the plate and popped it into her mouth. She scooted the rest of the cookies around to hide what she’d done. A few minutes later, with Teddy still missing, they sat down for lunch. Nora bowed her head. “Thank you, God, for this food. Please show me where Teddy is. I know You can because You see everything.” Cali thought about Nora’s prayer. She hadn’t been hidden when she ate the cookie. God had seen her as easily as Cali had seen Nora hiding behind the scrawny tree. Cali’s stomach felt funny. She no longer wanted a cookie. She gave a piece of hers to Cocoa, who trotted to his bed and nuzzled it under his blanket. Out from the other side of the blanket popped a fuzzy ear. “Look,” cried Nora. “Cocoa hid Teddy in his bed!” She ran to get her bear. Once she had him in her arms, she turned to face Cocoa. “No, no!” she scolded. Cocoa put his tail between his legs. Nora plopped beside him. “Don’t worry, silly dog. Me and Teddy and Jesus still love you!” Cali suddenly felt better. She’d been wrong to eat the cookie and try to hide what she’d done, but Jesus still loved her. She knew this because of something else she’d hidden—the very best thing to hide—God’s Word in her heart. The Bible promised that because she trusted Jesus as her Savior, nothing could ever separate her from His love. –Martha Hynson How about you? Do you ever feel like hiding from God when you’ve done something wrong? Do you worry he might stop loving you? God promises in His Word that nothing can separate us from His love, not even our sin. By memorizing verses like Romans 5:8, you can hide God’s Word in your heart so you will never forget the hugeness of His love for you. Today's Key Verse: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NKJV) Today's Key Thought: Jesus will always love you