when the ones i love the most are being testy, whiney, sinning or just annoying me... my first thought is usually, "ah, i'm so tired of their sin. i need 'a break'. i need time for myself. why do they keep committing this same sin over & over. it's wearing me out." very selfish & sinful thoughts. i'm just the same as them. i'm taking it personally that they're sinning. when someone i love is sinning i should be thinking about how i can love them, show them their sin, show them Christ's love & reconcile them to the Lord. loving them graciously is what points them to genuine repentance, not condemnation.
oh my Father does not grow weary of us & our sin. He is grieved by our sins because when we sin we are not experiencing the fullness of His love. when we're in the middle of our sin toward Him, He has already forgiven us. & He embraces us in our repentance immediately. He does not belittle us or even grow weary of us. He is constant. He is steady. He is unchanging. His love for us is great!
oh thank You Lord! thank You for loving this sinful, impatient, unloving, selfish mommy! thank You for having grace on me that i might show that love to the sweet little faces you've placed in our home & the man i adore most on this earth! may i be grieved by their sin toward you, but forgive them by Your grace! oh Your love is sooooo good!
thank you for joining us today friends! read britt's post here.
i'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this!
how can we show our households Christ's love when they sin?
how can we practically not be offended by their sin?
al
6 comments:
i'm reminded of the Psalm where David is grieving his sin with Bathsheba and he says "i have sinned against you alone, Lord!" our sin will impact and sometime hurt other people, but it's really against God. and while He is the fullness of Love (something i cannot wrap my head around), let us not minimize His holiness and His hatred of sin. He is holy and just.
so combining those two thoughts in regards to others, their sin is not really against me, but against our Holy God. in His perfect wisdom, He will deal with their sin in a just and perfect way. i must simply strive to keep my attitude in check. "there, but for the grace of God, goes i."
This is so good! Living in the reality of our constant need of grace....how powerful! How quickly I can think too highly of myself, forgetting my great need, and only offering impatience to my children.
Practically, something I feel helps me try to walk remembering my true role as mom and fellow person in need of grace is to...SLOW DOWN, pull them away from any "crowd", physically hold or touch them as we communicate, look in their eyes, address the sin & why it's wrong, and reassure them of my hope and great love for them. I have a line that I'm sure my boys (3 & 4) can rattle back to me if asked, "I'm teaching you this because I want you to become a wise man who builds his house on the rock. I don't want your house to fall. I love you, buddy." They are very familiar with this parable as we have a song we sing with motions about it.
hi al,
for i am not a mama but a babysitter i had a moment last week...
i was with the three kids i take care of, and the youngest was really challenging. he did some stuff he shouldn`t so i told him to go to his room (after he did again and again).
after a while i looked after him and again he did stupid stuff NOT in his romm - well, i was tired and so not in a good mood and i was really angry at him.
but then i realized - by the grace of god - that this little boy needed something else than my consequences and harsh words. so i went back to him, looked into his face (he shed some tears) and asked him for forgiveness and told him that i was tired and not behaving well towards him. then i took him onto my arms and we hugged it out - over an hour!
he didn`t want to let me go and staid on my arms the whole evening, while preparing dinner, while dinner...it was the sweetest moment!
i remembered your blogpost on this evening and what you wrote about forgiveness etc. it is so important to forgive - for both of us.
and i guess it was this moment seeing him doing nasty stuff and immediately knowing he needs my hugs right in that moment! and knowing that in the moment of my sin god is there for me to hug it out in his arms...how great is our god!
dearest,
me.
Hey there! I just came across your blog, and I am in love. Your desire and heart for the Lord has captured my heart. This post is so raw and truthful. Sometimes it's just so hard admitting and repenting of.the sins we are most ashamed of. You and your family are just the cutest, and the voice in your posts makes you seem like such a joy of a person, like im listening to a friend speaking! I will definitely be back to read. By the way....my namr is Rach :) Cant wait to read more! :)
Oh said so perfectly! The part about the needing a break. Thinking that time to myself is my 'right' instead of a gracious gift, when the opportunity comes. Such a challenge in changing my mindset!
Love your heart, this blog is a beautiful Godly voice amongst much noise! Xo
thank u friends!
sarah j... i don't at all want to minimize the Lord's hatred for sin. because He is grieved by our sins... but i was talking mainly about my heart toward my boys & the Lord's heart toward us... we are to be gracious as He is gracious & forgiving with us. He has forgiven us & forgotten us & already paid the debt for our sin. i tend to hold on to their sins. make sense?
thanks for reading & sharing your thoughts!
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