While my husband and I generally try to keep our children happy, we sometimes fail miserably. It’s in those times that our children resort to an old standby phrase: Y’all are mean!
Of course, we’re not really mean, but when our children don’t get what they want, their concept of us is that we’re being mean.
If we were really mean, we’d severely punish them for their wrongs {or maybe for no reason at all}. We’d neglect them. Their well-being wouldn’t constantly be on the forefront of our minds.
I looked up the definitions for mean:
- offensive, selfish, or unaccommodating; nasty; malicious; vicious
Now, I’ll admit to sometimes {probably more often than I like to believe} acting selfishly. And while we almost always go out of our way to accommodate our girls, there are times when we don’t. But, no, we are not mean.
My guess is that most parents aren’t. Maybe I live in a fairytale, but I think most parents are loving and want the best for their children.
Why do we think less of God?
If we are His children, and He’s our Father, He wants the best for us because He loves us. So why do we attribute every bad thing that happens in our lives to Him? Why do we buy into a works-based relationship? Why do we assume that if we behave, He will bless us; and if we misbehave, He will punish us?
If our children misbehave, we don’t severely punish them. We try to lovingly correct them…teach them.
God doesn’t give a person cancer as punishment for bad behavior.
He doesn’t tear a town to pieces with a tornado because the county in which it exists sells alcohol; nor does he spare another county because it doesn’t sell alcohol. {YES, I have actually heard that reasoning!}
He doesn’t cause a child to die as punishment for a parent’s sins. {What about King David? Well, David lived under the Old Covenant, the Law, which meant that God had to punish sin. We live under the New Covenant, grace, which means that Jesus has already accepted our punishment for sin.}
Evil exists. And He allows it. I don’t know why. But I know He hates the evil. And He longs to comfort us in the midst of it.
What about the wrath of God? I just have to believe that the wrath of God was satisfied with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Furthermore, if Jesus in flesh was the embodiment of God, one only has to look at His actions to know that He healed the sick, calmed the storm, raised the dead, and overall, rescued people. Even his rebukes {i.e., admonishments} were through His words {and the lack of…remember the line in the sand?}, not through giving people cancer, causing tornadoes, and killing babies. His actions were rooted in love, grace and mercy.
I know I’m horribly oversimplifying this issue, and neglecting to address many valid points {and I’ll probably once again be called a heretic}. But who can know the mind of God anyway? We just have to trust that He is Love, and we live under Grace.
And Love and Grace are everything opposite of mean.
