Read: Lamentations
3:18-25
It is of the LORD'S
mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every
morning: great is thy
faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
I think my one-year-old son was sent to
punish me for something I was in a past life. Sometimes it seems that he does
everything he can to misbehave. I know he barely comprehends what he is doing,
and in a few years, he will never remember that he acted that way, but it
doesn’t make it any easier right now. He touches everything he knows he is not
supposed to touch, he throws a fit when he doesn’t get what he wants, and he
ignores commands when he doesn’t feel like doing what he was told to do. Now,
let’s get something straight. He gets punished every time he does one of those
things, but somehow that doesn’t even seem to faze him either. The other night,
however, after a long day of him acting like a little terrorist, I was eating a
piece of candy. He came in and saw me eating, and, in his sweetest little voice
and with his cutest little smile, he looked at me and said, “Pease?” That is
his way of asking for something that he wants. Despite all the things in his
extensive past, and forgetting all his temper tantrums and fits, my heart
melted inside me, and I gave him a piece of candy. After all, he is my son, and
I love him. Believe it or not, he was actually good for a few minutes after I
gave him that candy, and it was then that I knew that somewhere in that little
heart of his lies the capacity to actually be good.
I’m
sure that is the way that God often looks at us. To him it must seem that we
sin on purpose, just because we can. He knows the potential we have for doing
right, yet He watches us follow after the world’s fashions and desires. He sees
us ignore His commands in the Bible to live a separated life and to share the
message of the gospel. He hears us complain about the few things in our lives
that are not perfect. It seems that we do not even realize how those things
hurt the very heart of God. Yet, despite all our failures and setbacks, for all
our shortcomings and missteps, God still chooses to bless us. We don’t deserve
to have any of the things we have from God, but because of His great mercy, He
still gives us His best. After all, we are His children, and He loves us. Having
said that, we must remember that God still punishes His children when they do
wrong, but His punishments are often far less than our sins require. Imagine
the chaos in our lives if God gave us what we deserved each time we hurt Him. Being
on the receiving end of our Father’s mercy ought to motivate us to live for Him
to our fullest ability.
Quote of the day: “God without man is still God; man without God is
nothing.”
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