Father, I hold no illusion that I am anything close to being what You want me to be. Often, I feel that it is one step forward and two steps back, but…in the midst of it all, You remain. You are faithful. May I clearly see Your reality. May it give me a burning within to press forward step by step to be who You created me to be. Amen.
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I feel that I need to address something that was brought to my attention by a dear pastor friend of mine, who interestingly enough – I have never met! He is a friend of my parents who is affiliated with the church they attend. He is a blogger, as well, and we have encouraged each other back and forth via Facebook Messenger for some time now. I pray that at some point Bob Krauss and I actually get to meet, face to face!
Anyway…he pointed out something I said in yesterday’s post (The Blame Game) regarding God loving us in spite of who we are and what we do.
Many of us have had parents and/or are parents who would do just about anything for their children because of their love for them. Just because a child decorates the living room walls with crayons, do we stop loving them? No, we may correct them, but we still are glad to have the opportunity to tuck them into bed that night. Just because a child seriously damages the family car, do we stop loving them? No, we are grateful to still have them with us. A parent after God’s own heart can’t just stop loving their child. They may be brought to tears because of the pain they suffer due to a child’s rebellion no matter how they get or what they do…but we still love them…prodigals and all. We love our kids not in spite of who they are but because of who they are! They’re our kids – kids of our blood, or kids of our heart – they are our kids…well because they are our kids! By birth, adoption, or guardianship they have our hearts, and whether they want to admit it or not we have theirs, too!
As parents, we are not content to allow our children to remain where they are. As newborns, we celebrate their first steps, their first words, and on and on! We want them to grow. We rejoice with them in every victory and weep with them in every defeat. Parenting is all about bringing a life into this world and them helping them to become who God created them to be!
We are the parents we are because our loving, heavenly Father is the parent that He is to us! We may not be the perfect parents He is but once again, as my pastor-friend Bob says, God does not love us “in spite” of who we are but rather “because” of who we are! He sacrificed Himself for us so we could be more than we presently are, but He adores us because He made us — just like any good and loving parent would!
We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 AMP
Lord Jesus, may we follow in Your footsteps to abide in our Heavenly Father’s presence. May we honor His will for our lives. He knows what we can be…if we will just let Him guide and direct us. Amen!
July 28th, 2021, Wed, 9:11 pm
