"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may
be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and
produces wonderful results." James 5:16
One of the most beautiful stories that was ever told is the parable of the Prodigal Son. You all know the story. There was a young man who went away from home and did wrong. After a while he was sorry and came back and said to his father, ''Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son." That little speech that he made to his father was about the hardest thing he was called upon to do. Nobody likes to own up when he has done wrong.
Professor Blackie, of Edinburgh, once called on a boy in the freshman class to stand up and read in the schoolroom. The boy stood up, holding his book in his left hand. He told him to put the book in his right hand. The boy still held it in his left hand and Professor Blackie became angry and commanded him harshly to lay the book down and take it in the other hand. Just then the boy turned around and he saw that there was nothing but an empty sleeve on the right side. Dr. Blackie came down from the desk and going over to the boy he put his arm around him and said, "I am very sorry, my boy. I didn't know.'' And then he went back to his place and apologized to the class for his mistake. That was one thing about this great man that made the boys all love him. He was always ready to own up when he had made a blunder.
Our text tells us to confess our faults one to another. If you have done wrong to some one else, to your father, or mother, or brother, or sister, or one of your friends, be manly or womanly enough to go and own up. That is the best and quickest way to make it right.
I know a boy who lost his mother. After her death he was very sad. He said, "I did many things that I ought not to have done, and I always thought that some day I would go and tell mother that I was sorry, and now she is gone and I cannot."
Most of the quarrels and troubles that separate people are brought about because there is someone who will not own up, when he knows that he is in the wrong.
There was a man who accused his neighbor of taking something that belonged to him. They had a bitter quarrel and a lawsuit and plenty of trouble all around. One day while looking over some papers in his desk he found the one he had thought was stolen. His neighbor had not robbed him. It was all a mistake. He ought to have gone at once and confessed, but he was too proud to own up like a man and the quarrel went on for years.
The bravest boys and girls are those who are not afraid to own up even when they know that they will have to suffer for it. Someone told me of a boy who had cheated in an examination. He handed in an almost perfect paper, and on commencement day was called up to receive the prize. He stepped up and said, ''Sir, I didn't earn it. I cheated. The prize belongs to someone else." That boy did wrong to cheat, but he was a brave boy to own up and take the punishment. That confession was worth more to him than the prize that he lost.
Boys and girls, do not be afraid or ashamed to own up when you have done a wrong or dishonorable act. That is the first thing to make it right and to make yourselves right. "Confess your faults one to another." S. N. Hutchison
No comments:
Post a Comment