My Rice Krispie Confession (His Encouragement #30)

I have a confession to make:

I ate the Rice Krispie treat. I did it. It was me.

And not just one Rice Krispie treat either- but three of them.

I knew it was wrong. I knew that we were supposed to be saving them for the kids at our church, but it was lunch time and I was so hungry. I was working in my office at the church and I went downstairs to the kitchen to get my yogurt out of the refrigerator.

That’s when I saw them- the Rice Krispie treats. A big blue box of them, sitting right out on the counter. I confess that I was tempted by their sugary, gooey, crispy, goodness- but I knew better. I should have turned and walked away, but I didn’t. Instead, I opened the box. Then, I plucked Rice Krispie from it’s shiny blue wrapper and I ate it.

It was delicious!  It was so good that I ate two more.

It gets worse. I didn’t want to be the only one who had eaten the Rice Krispie treats, so I took two more out of the box and brought them back upstairs to the church office.

“Here,” I said to the church secretary, “I brought you a surprise!”

“Where did these come from?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I just found them in the kitchen.”

She thanked me and then she ate them with her coffee. I ate another Rice Kripsie (I told myself I didn’t want her to have to eat alone!) and we both decided that Rice Krispies go very well with coffee.

 

I did it. I ate the rice krispies. 

Several nights later, the kitchen committee and the other volunteers came to prepare the meal for the final evening of our VBS Family nights. During the summer months, we held Family Nights every Wednesday evening at my church. We enjoyed a family meal, a puppet show, and activities for adults and kids. This was our final evening and the dessert was supposed to be- you guessed it- Rice Krispie treats!

“This box of Rice Krispie treats is half empty!” said one of the volunteers in the kitchen. “Who ate these Rice Krispie treats?”

In that moment, I had a decision to make. I could compound my sin by telling a lie and claiming that I had no idea what had happened to the Rice Krispies, or I could tell the truth.. I decided to tell the truth.

“I’m sorry!” I told the people gathered in the kitchen, “It was me! I ate them. I was hungry and I ate them for lunch earlier this week instead of eating my yogurt.”

“Really? We thought maybe the church secretary had eaten them. We were going to blame her.”

“She did eat them, but only because I gave them to her. She didn’t know that I took them from the kids. I feel terrible. Do we have enough dessert for the kids?”

They laughed. “You know us, we always have more than enough food! We have two more boxes of Rice Krispie treats, plus some Oreos, and there is also ice cream in the refrigerator.”

At that point, I said a silent little prayer of thanks to God. I was immensely relieved that my Rice Krispie mistake hadn’t ruined the evening for the children.

 

Sometimes sin is like a Rice Krispie

Although eating someone else’s Rice Krispie Treats might not seem like a big deal, my sin could have impacted the entire evening. I would have felt terrible if there wasn’t enough dessert for the children.

Furthermore, the church secretary almost got blamed for my mistake, even though she was innocent.  We don’t want to sin alone, so we encourage our friends to walk down unrighteous paths with us. Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the knowledge of the tree of good and evil together. They didn’t sin alone. They both ate the fruit (Genesis 3:6).

Finally, I tried to justify my mistake and to make excuses in my mind. I told myself that I would buy another box of Rice Krispies to replace the treats that I had eaten, but it completely slipped my mind. By the time I left the church office that afternoon, I had completely forgotten about the Rice Krispies. How often do we make excuses for the small sins we commit on a daily basis? Who hasn’t told a little white lie?

 

Jesus saves us from sin

God has done so many amazing things for me in my life that I should know better. I cannot plead ignorance. I know what is right and what is wrong. Even so, I continue to sin each and every day. I forget to do what is right (Romans 7:18).

Despite our best efforts, we will continue to make mistakes. That is why we need Jesus. The Bible tells us that we can be forgiven for any sin and any mistake, if only we turn to God and Christ to forgive us.

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy (Proverbs 28:13, NIV).”

Do you have something on your heart that you need to confess to God? Have you been carrying something- a sin or burden- that is weighing heavily upon you? Sometimes the heaviest sins are the ones that we can’t forgive ourselves for having done in the first place. For example, if there had not been enough treats for the children, I would have agonized about that mistake for months, even though Christ would have forgiven me the moment that I earnestly repented.

No matter what sin or burden you’re carrying, please know that you don’t have to carry it alone. Christ is waiting to walk with us every step of the way, if only we turn to Him.

 

Until Next Week,

-Rev. Rebecca

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