Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

HARD TO PLEASE

Try as you might, you just can’t please some people. Right? Have you ever had a boss that just couldn’t be pleased? No matter how hard you tried, no matter how many extra hours you put in, he always saw the negative and not the positive. That can be quite depressing, can’t it?

Aren’t you glad our heavenly Father isn’t that way? You see, He knows our heart. He only asks us to do our best. Our best may not seem as good as someone else’s best, but that’s okay. It’s our best. We are measured not according to man, but according to God.

TEACHING MOMENT

Are you hard on your kids? Do you have high expectations for them? There is nothing wrong with setting lofty goals. However, your children need some successes. They need to have achievable goals. Take for example the simple task of making a bed. Every child should learn that skill. It’s one they will use all their life. But do you expect your 5 year old to bounce a quarter off their bed once it is made? That probably isn’t gonna happen. In all reality, if the bedspread/comforter is pulled up and the wrinkles smoothed out that is pretty good for a 5 year old.

Find some ways to praise your child today. Point out their strengths. Stop looking just for the ways they come up short. My guess is you know their heart. You know their motive. You can tell when they are giving it their all and when they are not. Encourage them. Push them. But make sure you are recognizing their best efforts to please you and their heavenly Father.

I would hate to know God was keeping a score sheet on me and my final grade depended on my efforts. I would be doomed. But thanks be to God, my final grade has already been entered into the Lamb’s Book of Life, not because of anything I did, but because of the “effort” of my Savior. It was His final work that guaranteed my acceptance by the Father. How about you?