It’s Mine… You Can’t Have It

Illus: Years ago Art Linkletter hosted the television program called, "Kids Say the Darndest Things."

On his show he would ask them simple questions about life, and these children would give him answers that often brought the show to a halt with laughter.

• One father also was going to talk to his seven-year-old son to see how much he knew about the facts of life. He said, "It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I'm just a kid. I don't need that kind of trouble."

• Another little 9-year-old boy revealed how honest he was when he was asked, “Do you have to be handsome to get married?” He said, "It isn't always just how you look. Look at me. I'm handsome like anything and I haven't got anybody to marry me yet."

Children tell it like it is; whether we want to hear it or not.

Illus: Little Johnny was fascinated as he watched his mother smooth cold cream on her face.

• He asked, "Why do you do that mommy?"

• She said "To make me beautiful!"

• In a few minutes, he noticed she began removing the cold cream with a tissue.

• Little Johnny said, "It’s not working…is it?"

Life would be boring if we did not have children around to spice things up each day. They are certainly different than adults:

• If they think you are ugly…they will tell you

• If they do not like you…they will tell you

• If they do not like the comments you make…they will tell you

• If they have something to say…they say it

But not only that, children have their own code of, “What’s Mine.” It goes like this:

• If I like it, it's mine

• If it's in my hand, it's mine

• If I can take it from you, it's mine

• If I had it a little while ago, it's mine

• If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine

• If it looks just like mine, it's mine

• If I think it's mine, it's mine

• If it's yours and I steal it, it's mine

• If I ... Well, you get the picture

We recognize that this SELFISH CODE that they live by is not good, so it keeps us busy as parents and grandparents saying, “Darling, you need to learn to share!”

We recognize that in this life everyone does not have everything, and we have to learn to share with others.

While selfishness needs to be dealt with, I want to suggest that as the children of God, at times, we all need to tell the devil, “It’s mine…and you can’t have it!”

For example, the Bible tells us that Satan is a thief and he wants to steal that which is ours.

Look at the things we have that we can’t let Satan steal. -

I. WE HAVE PEACE FROM GOD

In Luke 16:1-3, we find Mary and some other women on their way to the Lord’s tomb. “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”

As they approached the tomb, these ladies had something going through their minds. Look again at verse 3, “And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”

The Bible also tells us something about this stone. The Word of God says, “… IT WAS VERY GREAT….”

They knew there was a large stone in front of the tomb, much too large for them to move. And if they were going to be able to enter the tomb to spread the sweet spices on Jesus’ body, the stone had to be removed.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO OUR LIVES? There are stones in our life that we would like removed, but we know they are too big for us to remove. Before we can get close to the Lord, we have to have those stones removed.

Every preacher has heard Christians confess, “Preacher, please pray for me, I want to get close to the Lord but I have these things in my life that are keeping me from getting close to the Lord.”

But here is the good news; if there are things in our life, the Lord will remove them if we allow Him to.

Such was the case with these women. They recognized the stone was too large for them to remove. However, the Bible says that when they arrived, the stone had been rolled away.