Dumb Excuses

"So are you coming with me to our church youth retreat next weekend?" Molly asked her friend Addison one day. "No, my parents are going to the college football game," replied Addison. "I think I'll go with them."Molly frowned. "But everyone's going on the youth retreat. It'll be so much fun! Why don't you come?""I don't have the right clothes for it," said Addison."Oh, you do too!" said Molly. "All you need is jeans and a T-shirt."Addison shrugged. "It costs too much.""You know that's not true! Like I told you, some of the families in the church offered to sponsor the whole group, so it won't cost you a thing." But in spite of Molly's best efforts to persuade her friend to go to the retreat, Addison stubbornly refused. After Bible club the next week, Addison was quiet as she and Molly waited for their parents to pick them up. "I don't get it," said Addison suddenly. "It seems like every time I go to Bible club, Miss Ellis tells us we need Jesus to save us from sin. I don't think I've done anything all that bad.""But the Bible says sin separates us from God, so all the wrong things you've done have to be forgiven," said Molly. "Even if they don't seem that big to you." "Maybe so," said Addison with a shrug. "But Miss Ellis said that Jesus paid the price for everyone to be forgiven and go to heaven. So the price is paid, right? I don't need to worry about it."Molly hesitated. "Remember the retreat last weekend?" she asked.Addison sighed. "Yeah. I didn't go, but it sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. Now I wish I'd gone, but I was worried there'd be a lot of people I didn't know, so I made up a bunch of dumb excuses.""Well, you could have gone," said Molly. "The price was paid for you to go, but you refused to accept the offer. It's like that with being saved too. Jesus paid the price for your sins to be forgiven so you could spend eternity with Him, but unless you accept the gift He offers, you don't get to go."Addison was quiet. "I guess I need to accept the offer then," she finally said.-Hazel W. Marett