Barely before dawn, Mary ran towards the backyard. She was full of joy. The tree was in blossom and it appeared that it would bear drumsticks in a week's time. There were flowers here and there. She delightfully told her brother William, "Wait and see if it will give drumsticks in a week or not!"

The small branch that she planted at her backyard nearly five years ago had now grown up into a tree. The very sight of it gave her untold joy. Isn't it natural that she was circling the tree daily eagerly expecting the day of it's yield! She plucked the drumsticks gleefully unmindful of the pain in her hands. Days passed. She was shocked to find all the flowers lying on the ground one day. Mary consoled herself that it could be due to the wind, the earlier night.

A few more days passed. Wow! So much flowers! How nice it would be if it yielded atleast this time. She began to count with her fingers how many drumsticks she was likely to get, one, two, three... Then she bit her fingers and said to herself, 'No, I must not count'. Some more days passed. Mary observed that the tree stopped yielding drumsticks for quite some time. All the flowers were falling down. The tree started shedding the leaves. Some suggested that the water might be bad. Others suggested her to put manure.

There were also numerous other ideas coming her way. But all these were just opinions and were not useful. These days the very thought of dawn made her uneasy. For her who was mindful of only her work, that tree was all her comfort.

One afternoon she was leaning on that tree now striking a sorry spectacle without leaves or flowers and was slowly driving a spike into the bark. As the bark came off she was aghast at what she saw and ran inside her house screaming 'daddy, daddy, see here. What is it?'. Yes, at the place where the bark was pealed off, there were sheets of worms curled up. Winding their way around the tree, these worms were leading a happy life, while the tree itself was withering slowly. As more and more barks were pealed off, Mary found the entire tree decorated with such worms. As she saw them, she couldn't help crying and streams of tears ran down her cheeks. "If only I had found out this earlier, I could have sprayed some insecticide, but now they have multiplied so much and finished off my tree", she was musing. She was unable to bear her loss.

Dear brother and sister who read this! Sin also is a poisonous worm. It is a poisonous worm that starts singly but multiplies severally and in the end it finishes you off totally. Identify it at once. Kill it with insecticide. Then you will blossom and bear fruit. Such a lovely tree, so full of flowers! Mary was happy just to see it! Oh! She would see it without closing her eyelids. But now... all those worms...and the barks that gave them shelter...Yes only when the barks were pealed off she could see the true picture. Yes brother and sister, those were poisonous worms which grew and multiplied under the cover of the bark, hidden from outside view.

Dear brother and sister who reads this! Are you also living like that tree? Externally striking a robust appearance but internally afflicted with the worms of sin. Perhaps your sins are not visible to the world. But the Lord knows them all. Isn't He the God who sees you?

"The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them" (I Tim. 5:24)(NIV). If you reveal your sins you can escape judgment. Have you read in the scriptures that he who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy? (Prov. 28:13). Have you forgotten them as soon as you read them or have you registered them in your heart? If so, peel off the barks and get rid of the poisonous worms! Eject them. Kill them all and pile them up. To eliminate them totally and kill them permanently, the Calvary blood of Jesus Christ is certainly sufficient for you. Amen