BECAUSE I SAID SO!
Yikes- I have officially become my mother…. After 18 months of masks, hand sanitizer, homeschooling, working from home, zoooooooming….then the snowpocalypse and no heat or water. I simply ran out of words. Preschoolers and teenagers have a way of exasperating all my last best efforts and the next thing you know, the MOM OF THE YEAR trophy is being used as a disc golf replacement. I’m not a “bad” or a “mean” mom – I’m just trying to keep everyone healthy, safe, and sort of happy. UGH!
“Because I said so” is not what God has said to us, but we ascribe those words to Him in various ways. He didn’t use those words when He sent Adam and Eve from the Garden, or to David when he had Uriah killed so he could marry Bathsheba, or to Jesus when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
No, God’s divine judgment is not about a stern mean deity that stands at the ready-to-toss thunderbolts at every rule breaker. Rather, His judgment is about a Father who loves His children and wants to keep them safe and happy – but we rebel. We know better. We, like preschoolers, want to stamp our feet and cross our arms in a rage when things don’t go our way. And we bend rules, like teens, and beg for more time with friends or things we know are pushing the limits.
And God just loves you so much that He allows you choices. I know He smiles when I make the right one – like choosing kindness or truth. But kindness and truth alone are not enough to cross the chasm that sin has created. So, God, in His divine judgment, sent Jesus to sacrifice His life to cover our sins. Hebrews 9:27 tells us that “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of the many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.”
We cannot face the wrath or judgment of a Holy God – and the good news is… we don’t have to. Jesus takes our place. When we die and face our judgment, Jesus will stand in front of us before the Father and cover us. It’s a beautiful picture of redemption so amazing that it defies any logic I can muster. I don’t have to be perfect or “mom of the year.” I just need to believe and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for me. Not because I said so – but because the Bible tells me so.
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