Gimme a Break
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
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Straight to the Cross
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COLUMN: Reality Check
Gimme a Break
by Stan Mitchell
Danny Simmons tells of an incident in a children's
Bible class where his wife was teaching. She asked
the kids to name their favorite hymn, and four-
year-old Victoria raised her hand. "Gimme a
Break," she declared.
The teacher was puzzled. "I don't know that hymn,"
she said. So Victoria began to recite the words of
that immoral anthem:
"Gimme a break, gimme a break, Break me off a
piece of that Kit Kat Bar!"
The teacher naturally encouraged this little
preschool princess to choose a "Jesus song," and
the incident was forgotten. Simmons, however,
began to think. What a great idea for the church
this was!
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:10).
In a word, God "gave us a break." He forgave us.
Whatever kind of language you use, this is true.
What Jesus did on the cross was to give us a
chance to make it in life. And the Bible is clear
about how God expects us to treat each other:
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you,
your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you
do not forgive men their sins, your heavenly
father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew
6:14,15).
In other words, if you don't give each other a
"break," God will not give you a "break."
Perhaps Victoria wasn't so far off after all!
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