Rowdy children are great fun when they belong to someone else. Such it was this weekend. We were walking behind a couple with a preadolescent boy who was giving them a bad time. I have to admit I was enjoying the show. Finally the man turned to us and said, “He’s not mine!” Maybe that was one of the reasons the boy was acting up. He wasn’t loved enough for the man to take responsibility for him.
That is one of the most wonderful parts of the Gospel. No matter how bad we are God never quits caring about us. When Adam and Eve shattered God’s plan for Earth it would have been so easy for God to just wash His hands of them and say, “They aren’t mine.” But they were His. Never once did He contemplate proclaiming them to be on their own.
This is no license for bad behavior on our part that is unless we are preadolescent. We can’t just walk around abusing His grace and care. In Galatians 5 Paul talks about walking in freedom and warns us not to use that freedom to abuse ourselves and others. So much of being a Christian is being a grownup. When we are no longer preadolescent we should understand responsibility and respect. We respect others and we respect ourselves. We don’t do harmful things. We want to be like our Jesus and since He does not harm neither will we. It’s not about obeying a set of laws. It’s all about understanding the principles of the laws and being a respectful grownup with the confidence that our heavenly Father will never turn to the universe and say, “They aren’t mine.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 6, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org