“And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.” Deuteronomy 6:25 NIV
Is It Right In His Eyes?
My grandson (almost eight) had a week recently where it seemed he was getting into trouble for everything he did, and everyone was picking on him. This is not the norm for him. My daughter called me in frustration. It turned out, one child at school was lying and actually provoked the situation, the parent also lied about it, and the teacher didn’t let my daughter know what was going on until contacted. My grandson did get into some trouble, though not for everything that was said, but he didn’t want to listen to mom either. He thought what he was doing was justified.
Isn’t that just like us? There are times we want to do what WE want to do and we don’t take the time to seek God; even if we do, we don’t want to listen to Him. We might think what we’re doing is justified. Maybe we are being influenced by others and want to be accepted. Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Recently I was at a restaurant with my daughter, grandchildren and many of their friends. My grandson had been influenced by one of his friends inside and got an attitude. On the way out, he told mom he wanted to do something and mom said no. He had a fit. I pulled him aside and talked to him about how God gives us parents because He can’t be here on earth. Genesis 18:19 says, “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
I told him he’s too little to decide what’s best or safe. In this case, Mommy had to make the decision she did because she loves him and knows what’s best and he needed to respect that and listen to her. “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). I told him that when he is at school, ask God if it’s right before he does something. I don’t know if he’ll remember to do that all the time, but he was thinking about it.
Father, thank You for entrusting to us the ministry of being parents and grandparents. I pray that we would seek Your guidance to make the right decisions for our children and grandchildren. May we also seek You before we make any decisions for ourselves and not be influenced by others, so that You would be pleased with us. Thank You for Your unconditional love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.