Read: 1 Peter 1:17-21

“Oh no!” said Mei. “I won’t be able to mail this birthday card to Grandma until Monday.”

“Why not?” asked Mei’s little sister, Anya. “The mailman hasn’t come yet. I’ll go put it in the mailbox for you.”

Mei shook her head. “We’re out of stamps. Without a stamp on the envelope, this won’t go anywhere.”

Anya looked thoughtful for a moment and then bounded off to her bedroom. She soon returned with her hands behind her back and a grin on her face.

“What are you hiding?” asked Mei.

Anya beamed with pride as she held out a roll of dinosaur stickers. “You can use one of my stamps to mail your letter.”

Mei smiled at her sister. “That’s very nice of you, Anya, but I’m afraid your stickers won’t work. A letter has to have a postage stamp on it. Your stickers are nice, but letters have to have the real thing.”

Anya frowned, and Mei tried to explain. “Postage stamps are a special kind of sticker. You buy them at the post office, and when you stick one on a letter, it shows that you’ve paid for the letter to be delivered. Then the people at the post office make sure it gets where you want it to go.” Mei gave her sister a hug. “Sorry, Anya, but thanks for trying to help.”

Anya hesitated, then peeled off a dinosaur sticker and stuck it on the back of Mei’s hand. “You can have a sticker anyway,” she said with a grin.

Mom, who was standing nearby, smiled as Anya skipped away. “You know, Mei, your explanation of how payment has to be made for a letter to be delivered reminds me of the payment needed for us to get to heaven. We might try to pay our own way by doing good things, but that’s like using a dinosaur sticker on a letter. To get to heaven, we need the real thing.”

“Right,” said Mei. “Jesus!”

Mom nodded. “We can’t pay our way to heaven at all—only Jesus can. He died on the cross to make the payment that guarantees our sins are forgiven and we have a place with Him forever. Only He can deliver us from sin into a new life with Him.”

–Kelly M. Schaefer

How about you? Did you know that the price for you to go to heaven has been paid in full? Jesus gave His life so your sins could be forgiven and you could have eternal life with Him. So don’t try to make that payment yourself! None of the good things you do can pay for the wrong you’ve done—only Jesus can. Accept His payment by trusting in Him. (To learn more, go to Have You Heard the Good News?)

Today's Key Verse: Since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. Romans 5:9 (NLT)

Today's Key Thought: Accept Jesus’s payment for sin