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
When one of my sons was a two-year-old, I seriously felt he was sent to punish me for something I was in a past life. Sometimes it seemed that he did everything he could to misbehave. I know he could barely comprehend what he was doing, and after a few years, he does not remember that he acted that way, but it didn’t make it any easier right then. He touched everything he knew he was not supposed to touch, he threw a fit when he didn’t get what he wanted, and he ignored commands when he didn’t feel like doing what he was told to do. Now, let’s get something straight. He got punished every time he did one of those things, but somehow that didn’t even seem to faze him either. One night, 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 was his way of asking for something that he wanted. 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 lay 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.
Read also: Lamentations 3:18-25
Quote of the day: “God without man is still God; man without God is nothing.”