“In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 1:4-5)

Imagine you’re a parent. Your child has been learning the piano. She’s got a school concert coming up. She chose the music carefully and has practiced a lot. You bought her a new dress. She is excited but nervous. So are you!

The night comes. Everyone is gathered. She walks onstage and begins. The first 45 seconds go well. But then her finger slips. She makes a mistake. Then another. She stops. An awkward silence falls over the crowd. You sit there nervously. All you can do is pray. 

She tries to keep going, but her confidence is shot. She fumbles through the rest of the piece, picks up her music book, and walks off stage. 

Afterward you find her. She is on the verge of tears. She flies into your arms. “It’s okay,” you whisper, “everything is fine. I love you; it took a lot of courage to do what you did. You kept going. You worked so hard.” 

Up until now you’ve been thinking that you’re the parent in this scenario. But let’s change that around a little bit. Imagine that you are the child, and that the parent is God. 

Also imagine that the piano recital is all those things that you want to do for him but struggle to do well. Mistakes build, just like regret and heartache. Things in life are not working out as planned! It’s often painful. You want to do better, but slip-ups snowball. So do tears.

That’s why we need reminding that God’s love for you isn’t rooted in your performance; it’s rooted in the fact that you are his. In Christ, he adopted you. “I love you; it took a lot of courage to do what you did. You kept going. You worked so hard.”

Let’s seek to love God fully and others. We will try and we will fail. But we will also be serving a God who has adopted us as his very own, who embraces us with sacrificial love, whose mercies are new every morning, and who has given us the eternal covenant promises of Jesus Christ. 

You may fail, but God’s love doesn’t. 

Keep going. Look to Jesus. And be at peace.

Notes:

-Bible quotes are from the NIV.