Jacob and I coming into the wonderful part of raising a child…discipline. We both do not agree with each other’s methods 100% of the time, but we do agree on one in particular. Our son gets several warnings first, usually 3. Then if he is still getting into trouble we take away his most beloved treasure. What would a 5-year-old most love out of everything? Some would probably guess the tv, or maybe a favorite toy, going to somewhere to play, or something. But no, our son loves his PlayStation 3. He loves video games. That’s all he wants to do, that is what he loves to do. I guess you would say he is probably spoiled, he has PlayStation 3 games, he a Wii, and yes sometimes he even plays the XBox. Of course we monitor what he plays, he is only allowed to play certain games. (he love his Lego games.) But when he gets in trouble and video games are taken away for few days, he starts crying like the whole world has come to an end.
The other day he was carrying on complaining, because it wasn’t his day to play games. (he has only a certain amount of days he can play a week) and I was trying to come up with ideas for him to do. I told him he could work his Lego’s. (this child is putting Lego’s together that are meant for 16-year-old, by him self!) He didn’t want to do that, so I suggested reading a book (he placed in the early fluent reader at school, and he is only 5), I suggested coloring, watching a movie, going outside to play! (heaven forbid he go outside and play) nothing I said he wanted to do. Finally frustrated, I asked him what did he think children used to do before games were invented? His response: “Nothing, they sat there bored.”
In Palms Chapter 7 verse 17: “I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.”
Have you ever thought about what our own righteousness is like to God? In Isaiah 64:6 is says that our righteousness is as “filthy rags.” Our pastor has explained what the Bible meant when it referred to a filthy rag is and it’s not pretty. A filthy rag would be what they would wrap around someone who had leprosy. You have to remember that in Biblical times anyone who had leprosy would be banished from society, they were looked at as unclean and wouldn’t receive any help or treatment. It would basically be like a band-aid. If you know anything about leprosy then you would know they would have open, bleeding, puss infected sores. So that’s what a filthy rag would be. A dirty, bloody, puss infected rag. Yuck. Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn. Not a pretty sight to think about. But that’s what God sees when he looks at our own righteousness without Christ.
Have you ever done something wrong and you got what you deserved? I’m sure we all have growing up. We don’t deserve the grace that God has given us. We don’t deserve what Jesus did for us on the cross. We don’t. But He gave it to us anyway. Jesus went to the cross and died for us, He took our place, and He did it because He loves us.
When we become born again and accept Jesus as our Savior, our righteousness is changed. When God looks at us he no longer sees our righteousness but he sees His. Jesus did that for us on the cross. That’s what David was referring to when he says that he is thankful for God’s righteousness. When we become born again we are made right in God’s eyes. Thank you Lord that you don’t give us what we really deserve. You give us love and salvation. That is something to be thankful for today!
Hugs,
Erin
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