Today, Molly has chipped away at my patience, bit by bit. Moaning, grunting, smiling, then crying all day long. I think she's ready to fall asleep, then it continues again. I just shot off a text message to a friend of mine for a quick prayer so I don't lose my mind.
Then it hit me: this is exactly how God sees me.
For a God who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, I must look pretty silly with my bright ideas and big plans. I must be pretty irritating with my constant sinning, repenting, rinse and repeating. God sees me as I see my baby girl - small, totally dependent, and ignorant to the grand scope of things around her. When I sin, I chip away at the ideal God wishes for me - perfect union. Of course, this is unobtainable since I am neither a perfect nor divine being. So how does that work?
While God hates sin enough to demand death as its penalty, he loved us enough to provide his own son as the solution. For those who "love and trust in Jesus" as we say in Sunday school, sins and debts are forgiven through the voluntary sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross in our stead those many centuries ago. As we are simple humans in a broken, sinful world, how could we not sin? It is in our nature. How unloving would God be to put us in a position he knew we couldn't get out of and demand we get out of it?
Similarly, how can babies restrain themselves from crying? They can't! On the contrary - they can only cry for the first several weeks of their lives as their primary form of communication. How could I expect her to do otherwise?
Enter sin. How sinful of me to not extend the love and patience God has for me to my daughter! It is exactly this sin that pushes me closer to God. As only he provides the solution, only he provides a way to deal with it.In times of great need and despair, run toward God, not away from him. Not only does he have the way out, but you'll get more of him in the process! What could be better? There is nothing.
I am God's fussy baby.
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