"John, Are You in the Cookie Jar Again?"

I can still see it sitting on our kitchen counter – an olive green ceramic cookie jar.  My mom always made sure it was stuffed full of cookies (which was not easy with me, my twin brother and a little brother running around the house!).  Now there was THE RULE (and it was the ONLY rule) regarding the cookie jar.  We could not grab a cookie or two (or three or four) just any time we wanted. We had to have permission first.  I want you to know that I tried to stick by THE RULE.  But that cookie jar had a powerful pull on my little hands.  It seems like any time I walked near it, my hands were drawn to it, like a piece of iron to a powerful magnet.  When this happened, I just went with the flow.  I would carefully lift the ceramic top, reach in and grab the loot, and then as quietly as possible, set the lid back on the cookie jar.  Almost without exception, the noise of ceramic on ceramic alerted my mom that someone was in the cookie jar. (How she could hear that from halfway down the block was beyond me! Perhaps she was a super hero in hiding!). 

This memory came to mind as I was read 1 John 2:28 recently in our Carpe Diem reading.  In this verse we read, “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”  I wonder.  How many of us will be caught with our hands in the “cookie jar” of sin when Jesus returns?  Let’s pay close attention to John’s exhortation here and strive to stay in step with Jesus.  Being embarrassed is never pleasant – and how much more so when it will be before the One who gave His life for us! 

Thanks for listening,

pj