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Topic: Rejoicing (11/22/04)
TITLE: Commotion in the heavens By Lynda Lee Schab 11/22/04 |
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The angels rejoiced.
The demons began plotting their attack.
"Rodney and Catherine, do you promise to train up Sandra in the way she should go, according to God's will and His Word, so that when she is old she will not depart from it?"
"We do," they replied, smiles prominently and genuinely displayed.
The angels rejoiced,
The demons scowled and plotted some more.
"Sandy, no! It's not nice to hit."
Sandy looked up at her mother and wacked her in the stomach as hard as she could.
The angels were silent.
The demons gave a thumbs-up. "Score one for the dark side!" they cheered.
"My mom said we could only have two cookies," Sandy said.
"So? Who's going to tell?" her friend asked, grabbing a third.
Sandy paused, then put the lid on the cookie jar, resisting temptation.
The angels rejoiced.
The demons cursed.
"Come on, Sandy. It's no big deal. Just one puff. It's not going to kill you."
Giving in to peer pressure, Sandy tentatively took the cigarette in her fingers and held it to her lips.
The angels were silent.
The demons danced.
"Look! That old lady left her purse sitting there while she went to the bathroom. No one else is around! Think of what we could do with that money!"
Sandy imagined the look on the woman's face when she realized her wallet had been stolen. "I can't do it," she said. "It's just not right."
The angels rejoiced.
The demons hissed.
"Do you want to pass the test or not?" Kayla whispered. "Take the cheat sheet!" She slid the white paper under her desk to Sandy's hand.
Sandy shook her head. "I'll do just fine without it," she said, shoving Kayla's hand away.
The angels rejoiced.
The demons were disgusted and decided they needed to work even harder.
"It hasn't been a marriage for a long time! My wife and I may still live together but we've been emotionally separated for months," Ben said. He'd wanted to sleep with Sandy since he first hired her six months ago.
Sandy hesitated. She was attracted to Ben and felt the strong pull of his affections. She resisted at first, but the temptation was too much and she soon found herself caught up in a torrid love affair with a married man.
The angels wept.
The demons rejoiced, celebrating their victory!
"I can't do this anymore, Ben. Every time we're together, I see your wife's face. But even more than that, I see the face of my heavenly Father, weeping. He's weeping because I'm doing something I know in my heart is so wrong. Go back to your wife, Ben." Sandy went home and fell on her knees, crying out to God for complete forgiveness.
Then there arose a commotion in the heavens on Sandy's behalf of more excitement and energy than ever before. The angels leaped and danced and sang and shouted, giving glory and praise to God that Sandy had repented of her sin! Besides glorifying the Father, celebrating over a repentant sinner was the highlight of their existence! The noise grew to a level unbearable to the human ear.
The demons had no choice but to slink away and retreat to their corners. Not ones to go down without a fight, they shouted to their archrivals that this wasn't the end of it! "Sandy is ours!" they called. "We'll steal the victory when you least expect it!" The demons shook their fists and spew out threats and insults in their loudest, most despicable voices.
But the angels didn't hear them. The demons' puny voices were drowned out by the glorious sounds of rejoicing.
"I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15:7 (NIV)
Lynda Schab
Copyright 2004