A few nights ago our family was heading back to our home in after a trip up to the home we hope to secure this month in Flowery Branch. Both of my children are chatterboxes – Alicia with a hundred questions of wonder and Landon with an equal amount of declarations with thunder. My little boy made mention of something that caught may attention and I quickly felt the need to reassure both him and Alicia that Amy and I believe them to be great kids. I commended their behavior & respect and I used the very general term, “good children”. Landon then said something that has been in my mind for a few days as it was a little “deep” for a six-year-old seated in a booster seat holding a lollipop. He declared, “The only reason we are good is because you are merciful.” Thinking I had misunderstood him, I asked him to repeat what he had said. After he did so, I knew I had heard him correctly.
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies…” – 2 Corinthians 1:3 {KJV}
There were two things at work in Landon’s young heart that the theologian in me rejoiced over while the father in me groaned a little. In our further discussion I came to understand that Landon doesn’t consider himself to be all that “good” of a little boy (daddy groans, theologian smiles). He is constantly affirmed in our home but he is also corrected and taught about the ways of God versus the way of man. He is beginning to know the heart of God and was not able to declare himself to be without fault. Additionally, he knew that his mother and I could declare him to be good because we do not hold his faults/sins/shortcomings over his head…Landon recognized us to be merciful. Now, how much of this is active theology in his mind is still a mystery, yet the boy is actually correct and I pray that these truths beginning to form themselves in him will translate into his understanding of how and why God can accept us for eternity.
You are not good enough…but God has declared you to be good enough in Christ; in fact, He has declared you to be wholly righteous. This cannot be done based on any goodness you know about yourself because Scripture declares that nobody is good, not a single one of us. Having said that difficult-to-hear news, I also remind you that your Father is merciful. He doesn’t judge you according to your own goodness but, rather, wipes your goodness out of the entire equation and puts in the perfection of Jesus in its place.
Now, you are good. And perfectly good. And perfectly good for ever and ever and ever.
That’s mercy and that is how your Father deals with you as His child. Do not focus on your failures beyond your repentance and their value to instruct you for the future. You are not your sins. You are not your weakness. You are not apathy, nor your rebellion. You are God’s boy, God’s girl. He deals with you in the full force of His mercy from beginning to end. You need no less of His mercy today than you did when you came as a pitiful, helpless sinner in need of gentle, yet omnipotent, pardon. You have exactly that as you seek safety and assurance with this God who can be quite frightening should you happen to forget that He is merciful.
A little boy in the back of a van teaches me something very important that I hope I will not forget. The only reason God can say that I am good is because He is merciful. That’s really, really good news because, though my goodness is insufficient and intermittent, His mercies are new every single morning. That includes today.
Those kind of comments from “her boy” were the ones that always melted Mama’s heart and they melted mine today as I read this! You and Amy are raising those two precious “babies” (as Mama would refer to them) with a strong knowledge of who God is and what He expects of us. No wonder Landon sometimes shows the knowledge of a much older student of the Word!! Thank you for sharing this…I pray that I never forget either that I’m only “good” because God is merciful!!
Out of the mouth of babes can come great gems of wisdom that catch us off guard. What a blessing … thanks for sharing!
I just flat-out loved this post! My heart has been made so tender by the mercies of God that I can barely hear the word without the tears flowing! You bless me!
I almost want to meet Landon one day more than I want to meet you ;-))))
Which strikes another chord…..one that I am not the merciful father that my Father is to me. While I can never be, and I love my children deeply, I still strive to move to a better more merciful person