Manna For Moms

Devotions for Moms Like You!

Megan Breedlove

Backpack

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My three youngest children attend a Parents’ Day Out Program twice a week. Recently, when I took them to school, I overheard the director saying she would have to find someone to teach the two-year-olds class that day. It turned out that the regular teacher had a scheduled day off. The director was able to get a substitute, but shortly before I got to the school, the substitute’s son threw up in his class, so she had to leave and take him home. This left the two-year-olds class without a teacher.

I told the director I would be glad to teach the class that day. She has known our family through the school for three years, so she accepted. I went home, packed a backpack full of Ellie’s homeschool materials, which I planned to go over with her during the children’s naptime, and took Ellie with me back to the school.

I parked the van, and we got out. I was thinking about what a beautiful day it was when Ellie asked me if I would carry her backpack. “It’s heavy,” she said.

“Sure,” I said, and swung it up over one shoulder. Ellie was right; it was heavy with all the things I had packed. I thought about how she would be glad that I was carrying it for her, and how she had known it would be no trouble for me.

I was struck then with how perfect a spiritual analogy the situation was.

God, our Father, is far more able to carry our burdens than I am to carry Ellie’s backpack. Yet too often, we struggle along, trying to shoulder our load by ourselves, only calling out to God when we are exhausted.

Why? I can think of two primary reasons. Maybe you can think of more.

The first reason is that somehow, we’ve gotten the idea that we should be able to handle things ourselves. Granted, there are times God expects us to take action rather than sit around, hoping the situation will change. But He is well aware of how much or how little strength we have. He knows what’s too heavy for us, and He wouldn’t expect us to bear our own burdens any more than I would have expected Ellie to lug a backpack that was too heavy for her into the school.

The second reason is that we don’t want to admit we need help. Maybe the idea of needing help is so threatening to our sense of self that we’re in denial, not even realizing that we’re sinking. Or maybe we know we’re sinking, but we’d rather go under than admit we can’t tread water.

Whichever your reason, it’s nothing but pride. Our pride tells us we can be sufficient on our own, if we try hard enough. But why is self-sufficiency even a desirable goal, anyway? For one thing, it’s completely impossible to attain. We are not self-sufficient apart from our Father, and we never will be. If we didn’t need God, we would be God, and we most certainly are not. We can do nothing apart from God, and it’s time we put our pride to death and acknowledge the fact.

Where are you struggling today? Where do you need God’s help, whether you want to admit it or not?

Let your pride go. Throw it away from you and beg the Father’s forgiveness, confessing His sufficiency and your insufficiency, asking Him to shoulder the burden for you.

Then, watch as He lifts it up, swinging it onto His shoulder as if it were weightless (which, to Him, it is). Let Him carry it for you. It’s what He longs to do. It’s what you long for Him to do. Will you let Him?

1 Peter 5:7—Cast all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you.

Loving Mommy

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I don’t remember whether I hadn’t slept well that night, or whether I’d gotten to bed too late the night before, or both. But I do remember hearing the sounds of my son’s bedroom door opening and his footsteps coming towards our room, and having to force my eyes open. I was trying to become coherent enough to beg Kenny to “please go back to bed” when he pushed my door open and plopped down on the floor.

“Mommy,” he said, smiling up at me, “I had a great dream about loving you.”

Suddenly, I didn’t resent having been awakened anymore.

I was still tired. But I couldn’t have wished for any better or sweeter way to wake up.

I thought about his words many times that day, and I’ve thought about them often since. In fact, Kenny has told me almost the same thing several other times. Sometimes, he tells me he’s had a dream about loving me. Sometimes, as I tuck him into bed, he tells me that he is going to have a dream about loving me, and I know that as he slips into Dreamland, he expects it to be sweet with thoughts of me.

I love Kenny all the time. I love him every second of every day, even when I don’t much like what he’s doing or how he’s behaving. But when Kenny declares his love for me in such a precious, beautiful way? My heart can’t contain all the love I have for him, and it overflows.

I want to thrill God’s heart in the same way my son thrills mine. I want Him to rejoice in my frequent, heartfelt expressions of love. I know that’s what you want, too. So why don’t we do it?

Maybe we think we don’t have enough time to cultivate a love relationship with God. Some days, it seems we don’t even have time to locate our Bible, much less read it and spend in-depth time in prayer. Maybe it feels hypocritical to tell God we love him when we’re well aware of our inconstancy and sin. Maybe we’ve just never thought much about how God would feel if we were to tell Him we love Him as often and as meaningfully as we tell our children—maybe even more.

But whether we don’t make time for God, or we think we have to wait until we’re perfect to start expressing our love for Him, or we simply never think about it, we’re depriving God of the expressions of love that He deserves to receive from His beloved child and longs to hear.

If Kenny never told me He loved me, I’d begin to wonder if he really did. If he only expressed his love because he thought he should, I’d wonder if he really meant it.

Yet we sometimes limit our expressions of love for God to reciting the words of a song we aren’t really thinking about singing, or to intellectual assents to the fact that yes, we love Him.

Both singing and declaring the truth are important. But where are the spontaneous expressions of love, motivated not by what everyone else is doing or by what we think we should do, but by love?

Why do we not constantly pour out our love upon God, Who alone is worthy of it?

Oh, Father, forgive us for failing to express our love to You as we should. We want to love You with the passion with which You loved us, or at least come as close as a human being can. Father, we declare right now that we do love You, with all of our being. We’re grateful that You accept our imperfect love. Convict our hearts whenever we don’t love You wholeheartedly, and teach us that our greatest delight comes not in the earthly expressions of love that we receive, but in the love relationship between us and You. We want to spend the rest of our lives and then eternity loving You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

2 Samuel 6:14—And David danced before the LORD with all his might.

Mark 12:30—And you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Feeling Brave

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My six-year-old, Ellie, is learning to ride her bike. She likes to practice any chance she gets. At this point, she uses training wheels, and she often prefers when I walk nearby. Recently, she has pedaled away on her own a few times, but she still likes it better when I can be right there.

One time, she wanted me to take her bike riding, and I was unable to. So she asked Daddy. Daddy agreed, and Ellie gave him some instructions. “I still need your help, though,” she said. “So walk by me, and put your hand on my back, just like Mommy does. Just a little; not too much. When Mommy does that, it helps me feel brave.”

I knew that when I placed my hand on her back, at about shoulder-blade level, she rode better and faster. But I had never thought about it in terms of my touch giving her courage.

Isn’t that a beautiful picture of what our Father does for us?

God knows that sometimes, we’re uncertain. Sometimes, we’re not all that brave. Other times, we’re just plain scared. So He places His hand at our back as we try to figure out how to balance. His touch is light enough so we can stretch our wings a little, but heavy enough to remind us He’s there. And He walks along beside us as we head into the unknown.

I wonder what you and I would have the confidence to attempt if we could truly grasp the fact that God’s hand is keeping us from falling.

Granted, there are times bad things do happen to us, which God chooses not to prevent. But I am describing here what happens when God calls us to do something. In other words, He asks us to learn to ride.

God never calls us to something we’re unable to do, then refuses to help us learn to do it. He doesn’t set us up to fail. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to be able to perform the work He has for us. So He does everything in His incredible power to fit us for fulfilling our calling.

You might be learning how to study your Bible. Or maybe you’re trying to reach out to people more often. Maybe you’re preparing for a particular avenue of ministry, or going back to school. For sure, you’re trying to be the best mom you can be.

Friend, you don’t make the attempt alone. God is with you, and He’s even closer than right beside you. If you are His child, His spirit is within you. He will see you through this process you’ve started, for as long as it takes.

I wonder what kind of confidence it would give us if we only realized that God is right there throughout our attempts.

We could start forward in boldness, knowing that God will catch us if we begin to fall. After all, can we not trust Him to enable us to successfully perform that which He’s called us to do? You see, I know how to protect Ellie on her bike, and any loving thing I can do is only an imperfect shadow of what our Heavenly Father can do for us.

Every time Ellie and I go outside for her to practice bike riding, she chooses to place her trust in me. Why? Because she knows I have been trustworthy in the past, and she has confidence in my ability to keep her safe.

God is infinitely more trustworthy than even the best parent in the world, and He is certainly more able. Should we then not have far greater confidence in our Father than Ellie has in me?

Ellie knows she can’t ride a bike on her own. You and I know that we can’t fulfill what God has asked us to do on our own. But just as Ellie can ride when she has my help, we can accomplish anything God has called us to do when we have His enabling power—which is always.

Is there some area in your life where you’re still standing up on the porch, looking at the bike, afraid to get on and try? Have you forgotten that with your Father’s help, you can ride?

Come down off the porch. Your Father is waiting to help you.

Philippians 4:13—I am strong in all things through the one empowering me.

Soundtrack

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Sometimes, I wonder which memories will stand out when I look back on this time in my life. When my children are grown and gone, what will I remember from the days when they were young?

I was wondering about that not too long ago. It was a day when everything was going right. My heart overflowed with gratitude to God for the four precious gifts He’s given me, and with love for my children. As I watched them play, the thought hit me, as it has before, that one day, these days are going to be gone. One day, my children will be older, and these wonderful, magical years will have flown by.

Oh, I’ll admit there are days that seem far less magical than others. But right now, there is exquisite joy in watching them play, in seeing them run around the house, in hearing their childish requests, in being needed. My heart hurt at the realization that one day, I will no longer be able to cuddle them the same way I do now. I won’t see them running through my home, smiling and carefree, making their own endless entertainment. Everything will be different, and though I know that in some ways things will be even better, I also know that I will miss these times we have together now.

What will I miss most when I think back? I wondered, and the answer came: their laughter. I’ve heard their laughter so many times, and it has come to mean so much to me, that I can’t imagine being without it.

When the kids were smaller, I used to make it my goal to make them giggle wildly at least once a day, because kids deserve to be able to laugh like that. We still laugh together every day. We play games together, and we tickle each other. We tell jokes, and we share funny stories and discoveries. All of these are occasions for laughter. Sometimes, we laugh for no reason at all except delight in something, or in just being together.

Yes, there are times when the sounds in our home are not so pleasant. If you could listen to us, you would sometimes hear harsh words, anger, or frustration. But most often, you would hear laughter.

For our home, and hopefully for yours, laughter is like the soundtrack of a movie. When you’re watching a movie, you don’t usually notice the music because you’re paying more attention to the action. Laughter is like that. It plays unobtrusively in the background. It’s not as noticeable as the jarring notes of anger and disobedience, despite the fact that the latter make up only a few measures of the entire score.

At least, it should be that way. If it isn’t—if the dissonant, inharmonious notes comprise the main soundtrack, with the laughter making up only brief interludes—do something about that now, before intermission, or worse, before the end of the piece. You can change the composition in the middle. Turn it into a beautiful symphony that blesses you and all those around you.

But stop and listen a minute. Is that laughter you hear, playing in the background of your family’s life? Is your soundtrack already beautiful, even if you haven’t noticed? If so, praise God for its beauty. Thank Him for the laughter and the sounds of love and joy that you regularly hear around your home. Learn to listen for the sweet notes more than you do to the strident ones.

What do you hear in the soundtrack of your home?

Part of what you hear depends on the melodies the Composer has woven into His masterpiece. But part of it also depends on what you’ve learned to hear.

I pray you hear laughter.

Psalm 126:2—Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

Diligence

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My daughter Ellie is a good worker. For example, when I ask her to clean something, she does a great job, even down to the small details. Because she is six, however, there are times when it is difficult for her to stay on task.

Once, I had assigned Ellie a job to do. I went to check on her and found her doing something else. “Ellie, you’re supposed to be doing your job,” I said.

“I was,” Ellie said. She then explained how she thought that the thing she had stopped to do was helpful also.

I could see her point. She was trying very hard to be helpful, as she almost always does. But she needed to finish the work I’d given her.

“Ellie,” I said, “I expect you to do the job I gave you without letting anything else interfere.”

If only I performed the duties God assigns me in the same way I expect Ellie to carry out those I assign her. Too often, however, I allow other things to get in the way.

Usually, those things aren’t “bad” in and of themselves. Playing games, reading, and resting can be good—even very good. They only become bad when we allow our participation in them to distract us from our primary responsibilities.

Playing word games on the computer, which I love to do, might be a great way to unwind after a stressful day. It might also be sinful, if I were to allow my time on the computer to crowd out my time in the Word. Reading can be relaxing and edifying. It can also take up too much of my time, if I’m not careful, leaving me too little time to accomplish the other things I should be doing, such as taking care of my home.

What things tend to distract you from your primary responsibilities? Do you spend too much time shopping, talking to your friends, or even serving on church committees?

None of these things is intrinsically bad. But not one of them is worthy to be put ahead of our primary responsibilities.

What are our primary responsibilities? To answer that question, I borrow an answer from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. In response to the question, “What is the chief end of man?” the answer is, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

That, dear friends, is our primary responsibility: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We must not allow anything to interfere with that.

Is there anything that keeps you from the purpose for which you were created? Is there anything that makes it more difficult for you to carry out your assignment?

If something is already coming to mind, confess it to your Father. Tell Him you don’t want anything to interfere with your carrying out His purpose. If nothing comes to mind, but you have the feeling that there might be something, ask God. He’ll tell you. And if you’re sure that there isn’t anything, that you’re completely on track—well, make sure in prayer that you’re right. Sometimes we don’t even realize where we’re going wrong.

Whether you’ve been a Christian for a week or for twenty years; whether your heart is truly devoted to God, or whether it’s divided; whether you know what the next step is, or whether you have no clue—commit yourself anew to God. Lay your heart, life, and service before Him. Ask Him to help you keep your eyes focused on Him when the things of this world, or your own desires, try to turn you aside.

It’s much more than the right thing to do. It’s the first step in entering into the incredible life God offers you—a life where your greatest glory is glorifying Him, and your greatest desire is eternally satisfied in enjoying Him forever.

There’s nothing that’s worth turning aside from all that.

Psalm 119:37—Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

The Heart of a Lindsey

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You’ve heard it said that a brave person has “the heart of a lion”. This phrase describes someone who exhibits ultimate courage in the face of even the fiercest enemy, and who doesn’t give up, no matter what.

It’s true that lions are brave. They aren’t called “King of the Jungle” for nothing.

But I submit to you that not even a lion has a heart like my Lindsey.

Lindsey is an incredible kid in many ways. She’s delightful, quirky, funny, creative, compassionate…I could go on for hours. But today, the precious aspect of her that I want to share with you is her can-do, never-say-die spirit.

Lindsey has exhibited this quality hundreds of times. One of the most recent was less than two weeks ago. All four kids and I were outside. Kenny and Jessica were playing together, and Ellie and Lindsey were riding their bikes (both have training wheels) with me close by.

Lindsey has learned to ride without help, for the most part. She still falls down occasionally, but she gets up and gets going again. On this day, she fell, and she said, “I fall down a lot.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Everyone falls down when they’re learning to ride.”

“I fell down again,” she said a few minutes later, when the same thing happened.

“You’re doing great,” I said. “You can do it. I know you can.”

A few minutes later, Lindsey fell down a third time.

This time, she stayed where she had fallen, propped up and looking at me, her legs still wrapped around the bike. Her beautiful brown eyes looked especially large, her face serious. “I’m not going to give up, no matter what,” she said.

That, my friend, is the heart of a Lindsey.

It would have been much easier for Lindsey to say, “I didn’t know learning to ride a bike was going to mean falling down. Forget it. I quit.” But she didn’t. Instead, she realized that bumps and bruises were a part of the process, and she was willing to accept that. They weren’t going to make her quit.

I won’t give up, no matter what.

Do you and I give up? When start down a path we believe God has for us, only to encounter road bumps that throw us off the seat and pitch us into the dirt, how do we respond?

Granted, there may be times when God places obstacles in our path because we are riding in a direction He doesn’t want us to go. It requires prayer and discernment through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to discern whether the roadblocks are meant to warn us, or are simply the result of living in a fallen world, where things don’t always go perfectly even when the course is right.

If they are the latter, we dare not give up. Why? Because we’ll miss out on the incredible blessings God has for us. Not only will we never reach God’s intended goal if we give up, but we’ll miss out on learning from the complications.

Why do we expect everything to be smooth sailing, anyway? More often than not in this life, there are difficulties. Why are we surprised, as if something strange is happening to us?

There are much better things in life even than pain-free roads. Lindsey is going to be a better person for having persevered through her difficulties to the day when she finally learns to ride a bike with no training wheels. She’ll be free as the wind, and it will all be because she was willing to undergo the training process.

You and I can be better people, too, for having endured the loose gravel (or even boulders) on our road. I don’t say that we will be better people, because it all depends on our response, on what we let God do in our lives with our difficult experiences. It could be that we wind up bitter and disappointed, angry at God and at the world.

Or it could be that we become beautiful, because by learning perseverance through suffering, we are becoming more like the Lord Jesus.

The obstacles you encounter may not be your choice. But the kind of person you become because of them, is.

I know that getting up and getting back on the bike hurts. Sometimes, getting spilled into the dirt leaves us with wounds that don’t heal easily, or maybe ever. But because of the beautiful, gracious mercy of God, we don’t have to get up in our own strength.

What do you think I would have done if Lindsey had lain in the road, crying piteously, “Mommy, help”? I would have done the same thing you would have—gone to her, picked her up, set her on her feet, wiped her tears, and helped her get going again. And if I, being evil, can love my child like that, how much more will our heavenly Father pick us up when we fall, wipe our tears, and help us get going again?

When you have no strength left, and no will even to rise, if you call out to God, His strength will be enough for you. He will do for you what you can’t do for yourself.

That’s what He did when He raised you from spiritual death to spiritual life.

And that’s what He’ll do in raising you from the side of the road.

Will you let Him?

I won’t give up, no matter what.

What do you choose?

1 Peter 4:12—Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.

Psalm 61:2—From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Paint Water

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Sometimes, as a mom, I make decisions that I’m afraid I might regret later. For instance, a few weeks ago, the kids and I went to Wal-Mart to buy some watercolors. I had passed some up at Target, hoping for a better price at Wal-Mart. So I promised the kids that on the way home from the Y, we would stop and buy the watercolors at Wal-Mart. The only problem was, Wal-Mart’s price was even worse than Target’s.

As I stood there thinking, “Now what am I going to do? I’ve been promising them paints. Okay, so a dollar difference isn’t that big a deal,” I noticed some other paints right next to the watercolors.

I don’t know what you call this kind of paints, but they’re the kind you have to dip a brush in, with no water involved. They’re thick, and goopy, and they look like if they spilled on your carpet, you might as well not even bother trying to get the stain up. I looked at these paints, and then, in a brief moment of insanity, I heard myself saying, “Hey, kids! How about these?”

“Yeah!” they shouted, and the deal was done.

We brought the paints home, and I’m happy to report that the painting went quite well. All four kids wore their “craft shirts” (cheap t-shirts I bought for a dollar each at Dollar Tree) to protect their clothes, and we had a vinyl tablecloth protecting the table. Nobody spilled anything on the floor, and nobody painted themselves or each other—much. The kids had a blast, and I deemed the project a welcome success.

At one point as they painted, I took the cup of paint water out to the sink and began to pour it down the drain. I watched the ugly brown water as it streamed from the cup, leaving a couple smears of bright colors on the inside where the paint hadn’t quite dissolved. I thought about how beautiful those colors had been in the hands of my children—the designers—but how ugly they were when messed up and mixed together.

It’s the same way with our lives. In the hands of the Designer—God—the colors of our lives are beautiful. They make not just pictures on plain white art paper, but masterpieces, created by the Master Artist.

It’s when we get involved and try to produce the art ourselves, that we mess things up.

From where I stood at the kitchen sink, I couldn’t see my children’s paintings. I was completely unable to see the pictures, but I trusted that they looked nice, at least to the designers, and that was enough for me. Oh, if only we would do the same with God. If only we would realize that the picture looks just like the designer wants it, and accept that, without trying to paint it ourselves.

We would never presume to tell Monet, if he were still alive, how he should paint. Much less would we ever take the brush from him and start completing the work ourselves. Yet we do this very thing to God, for one of two reasons. Either we don’t like the way He’s making the picture, so we try to make it turn out the way we want it to be, or we look only at the paint water, which is ugly, and we therefore assume the whole thing is a wreck.

But when God paints, He never makes a mistake. When He is allowed to paint without interference, His designs are always grand and glorious. It’s when we try to straighten out His work that we mess the whole thing up.

Friend, you and I are not the Master Artist. God is. Let’s trust Him that He knows what He’s doing, and cooperate with Him.

After all, what do you want? Do you want a picture that looks like an amateur painted it, or do you want a masterpiece?

Isaiah 55:8-9— “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Swinging

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Like most children, mine love going to the park. They enjoy being outdoors and roaming free. They have a great time climbing and sliding. But most of all, they love the swings.

Recently, I took them to a new (to us) park. They had their choice of novel play equipment to conquer, an open field to run around in, or trees to climb. They ignored it all and headed straight for the swings.

I can understand why. After all, what’s not to love about swinging? When you swing, you get to soar higher than you can on your own. You swoosh through the air with the freedom of flying. You experience adrenaline and excitement. You savor the thrill of soaring up, up, up until all you can see is blue sky. You have to swoop back down, but you don’t mind, because you know that in a minute, you’ll fly again. Your grin is huge, your joy boundless.

“Faster! Faster!” you beg, and your mother or father pushes you higher until you are breathless with laughter. The ride is wild and crazy and endless.

Until…it ends. Maybe that’s the only thing that’s not to love about swinging. Because all too soon, your mom or dad says, “It’s time to go home.” You have to slow down and drag your feet in the dirt until your swing stops. “Please just a little longer?” you beg. But the answer is no. You get off and trudge to the car, leaving bliss behind, and you go home with your mother or father.

The Christian life, too, is a wild, joyous ride. You start out small, before the pushes really get you going. With help, you get to where you are pumping your legs with all your might and swinging in extended, graceful arcs. Rocketing upwards brings such joy that you almost forget you ever have to come down.

But unlike a park swing, plummeting downward in life is usually painful. You hope it lasts only an instant, but sometimes, an instant turns into an eon. You slow down, and you don’t have the strength in yourself to get going again. You know it’s going to take someone to push you, to do for you what you can’t do for yourself. Why is it taking so long? you wonder. Why do I have to stay down here, when I want to be up there?

But then, just before forever, you realize that you’re swinging again. Cautiously, you pump your legs, and you find yourself swinging higher. You feel the pushes at your back, you pump harder, and before you know it, you’re once again experiencing the thrill of soaring into the sky. Maybe it’s a different kind of thrill now. Maybe you appreciate it even more, because you know what it’s like to hang motionless at the bottom of the arc. Maybe now, instead of bringing giggles to your lips, the thrill brings profound joy to your soul.

And then, just like swinging at a park, one day, the wild ride is over. You descend from your arc, and you know that it was the last time. Your swing begins to slow, because the pushes aren’t coming anymore. You hear the words from behind you: It’s time to go.

Scuff. Scuff. You drag your shoes in the dirt, and slowly, the scuffs get closer together. Finally, your swing stops. Your ride is over. You loosen your hands from the chains. As you get off, you stretch out your hand. Your Father takes it. And you go home with your Father.

Only this time, you don’t leave bliss behind. This time, you get to enter into a bliss more wondrous than you’ve ever imagined. The ecstasy of being home makes the joyous ride on the swings pale in comparison.

Because the swings were never your home. Even when your ride was at its height, you weren’t home. You had the privilege and pleasure of enjoying the ride for awhile. But it was never the true ride. It wasn’t the ride you were made for.

Precious friend, don’t get so caught up in the dips and swoops of swinging that they become everything to you. They are nothing more than how you pass the time until you get to go home. Someday, the One standing behind you and urging you onward and upward is going to stand in front of you. You’ll get to see His face for the first time. And then your ride begins…when you get off the swings and go Home.

Revelation 21:3b-4—God himself will be with them and be their God. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

2 Peter 3:13—But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Because

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I was on the way to the YMCA with my three younger kids when the discussion turned to certain children’s characters who are dressed inappropriately. Lindsey commented that one of her friends had a backpack with these characters on it. “But they’re inappwopwiate,” Lindsey said.

We’ve talked about these characters before, but I thought it would be a good idea to reinforce the lesson. “Do you know why they’re inappropriate?” I asked.

“Yes,” Lindsey said.

“Why?” I asked, curious to see what she would say.

“Because you don’t allow them,” she said.

As far as Lindsey knew, the reason the characters were inappropriate for her was because of how I felt about them. It didn’t matter what my reasoning was, and it probably didn’t even occur to her to wonder. The fact that I didn’t allow them made them inappropriate, and that was sufficient for Lindsey.

Do you and I accept restrictions from God that easily? When He tells us something is inappropriate, is His word enough for us?

It should be.

Instead, we often accept His word grudgingly. Okay, I don’t agree, and I don’t like it, but since He’s God, I’ll have to accept it.

Or we try to make Him justify His reasoning. Why can’t I do that? That’s unreasonable. This doesn’t make sense, God.

Sometimes, we simply refuse to accept the restrictions He places upon us. This is nothing more—and nothing less—than blatant, open rebellion. Sin. I know what your command is, God. But I will not obey.

What do these three sinful reactions have in common? First, they all question God’s judgment. They all imply that if God would just think about it, He would realize that our way is better than His.

Second, they all reveal a complete lack of understanding that God only does things for our good. We tend to think that anything unpleasant must be bad for us. That isn’t necessarily true. Sometimes, the things that are most unpleasant bring us the greatest good. When God withholds something from us, we see it as His withholding the good, when in fact, the Bible clearly teaches that He will withhold no good thing from us.

However, the Bible also teaches that He withholds no good thing from those whose walk is blameless. Just as we sometimes withhold privileges from our children as a consequence for their behavior, so God may withhold something from us as a consequence for what we’ve done, or to get us to change our behavior. Something may be good in and of itself, but it may not be good for us to have it at a particular time. It may be better for us to do without it for awhile, or forever.

How, then, should we respond when God places a restriction upon us? We’ve already said that we shouldn’t respond by railing against it or by refusing to accept it. So what is the right response?

The right response to anything God does is always the same—loving, trusting acceptance, and voluntary submission to His will. Does God always expect us to like what He does? Of course not. But even when we don’t like something, we can say to Him, “God, I don’t like it. But because this is your will for me, I accept it. I know that somehow it fits in with your purposes, so I accept the portion you have assigned to me. I want to bring you glory through this.”

When the world sees us fighting against the God we claim to love and serve, or disregarding His wishes entirely, what kind of message do you think they get?

On the other hand, what message do they receive when they see us accepting His will, even when it’s not necessarily what we want?

What impression of God are you communicating to a watching world? Are you showing them that He is a God worth following, whose judgment is beyond question?

Or are you showing them that you think your judgment is equal to or better than His? That unless His ways please you, you won’t follow?

Oh, friend, I pray it’s the former for you. And I ask you to pray that it’s the former for me.

Psalm 84:11b—No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Isaiah 55:9—As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Oops

Megan Breedlove No Comments

When she was twenty months old, my oldest daughter received a Fisher-Price Little People Noah’s Ark set for Christmas. My sister bought it for her, and she bought not only the original ark set, but also all the extra sets of animals that went with it. So Ellie wound up with the ark, a flag to go on top, and twelve pairs of animals.

The ark came in two pieces. The top piece included the little shelter on the upper deck of the ark, and the deck itself. The bottom piece was the “boat” part, into which Ellie could put all the animals. The two pieces clicked together, and they came apart by means of pushing a little catch under the upper deck. For a long while, Ellie had trouble getting the pieces apart so she could get the animals out.

One day, she brought me the ark, wanting me to open it for her. I pushed the little red button, and the pieces came apart. I handed them to her, loosened from each other but still put together in an ark shape, so she could have the pleasure of succeeding at taking the roof off by herself.

Only…she dropped it, and twenty-four animals spilled all over the floor. “Uh-oh,” Ellie said, and looked at me.

You’ve had that kind of moment—when your child looks at you, waiting for your reaction so that she knows how to react. I admit that I’ve blown it sometimes in those moments, but this time, I got it right. “Oops!” I said in a funny voice, making a silly facial expression. Ellie grinned, and the whole thing became funny.

How easily it could have been different. If I had sighed, and said, “Oh, Ellie,” with a disgusted tone in my voice, she probably would have cried. (Yes, I’ve done that before.) If I had said nothing and simply bit my lip, or maybe rolled my eyes, she would have known I was angry. (I’ve done that, too.) But this time, I reacted appropriately, recognizing the situation for what it was—an accident, and potentially funny—and handled it that way. That allowed Ellie to laugh, too, and we now have a good memory instead of a bad one.

Aren’t you glad God always reacts rightly to the things we do? He never overreacts. He never reacts inappropriately, such as becoming angry when anger isn’t the best response. He always responds in the way that is completely right, considering what it was we did, and how that fits into His plans for us.

God will know when what we did was an accident, and He will react appropriately. That means He won’t condemn us for it. He may need to teach us something so it doesn’t happen again, or He may want us to realize the seriousness of our mistake. But He won’t condemn us.

God also knows when what we do constitutes sin. He is well aware of it when we deliberately disobey and choose to do something we know full well we shouldn’t do. During those times, He also reacts appropriately, to secure our repentance and better conform us to the likeness of His Son. But He doesn’t condemn us.

What? Not even when we sin?

Not even then. You see, for those of us who are Christians, Someone has already been condemned for our sins. Instead of condemning us, which we would have richly deserved, God chose to condemn His perfectly righteous Son. In His holiness, God had to punish our sins. But in His infinite love and mercy, He chose to punish Jesus instead of us.

Friend, when you snapped at your children and deserved to be punished, God didn’t punish you, because He had already punished Christ in your place.

When you harbored resentment in your heart against your husband and deserved to be punished, you escaped punishment because Jesus already got what you had coming to you.

When you…well, fill in the blank with anything you’ve done, and realize that the reason God didn’t punish you for it was because Jesus already took what you deserved.

So if you’ve made a mistake…come to God. He won’t condemn you. He knows it was a mistake. He doesn’t expect you to be perfect, in the sense of never making an honest mistake.

If you’ve sinned…come to God. He still won’t condemn you. Why? Because all the condemnation you and I ever deserved, He heaped upon Jesus as Jesus was dying for us on the cross.

If you’ve sinned a LOT (and who of us hasn’t?)…if you think that God can never forgive you for one sin, or for many…if you just don’t know how to make life right anymore…if you’ve given up…come to God. Admit what you’ve done. (Remember, He already knows it anyway.) Tell Him you’re sorry. Then, receive His merciful, all-sufficient forgiveness. If you’ve never done this before, and you know you need to do it, there’s a section on this website, “How to Know God”, that can help you. Or call a pastor. Or a trusted friend who’s a Christian. Or e-mail me through this site. But get right with God today. It’s the only decision you can ever make that there’s no possibility of regretting.

Friend, will you allow me to pray with you now? Whether or not you’ve already accepted Christ? Whatever your sins may be, or have been?

Oh, precious heavenly Father, thank You. Thank You that you don’t give any of us what we deserve, but that instead, you shower us with your unlimited mercy. Thank you, precious Jesus, that you were willing to die in our place, taking the condemnation we deserved, so that we didn’t have to. Oh, Lord, if anyone reading this doesn’t know You, I pray that You will bring them to know You. I also pray for my precious sisters in Christ and ask You to encourage their souls with the truth of Your forgiveness and mercy. I thank You, and I praise You, for your kindness and goodness. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Romans 8:1—Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21—God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 John 1:9—If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.

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