Yesterday, my youngest son Aidan pulled out from his backpack some schoolwork to show my wife, Alissa. While she looked intently at his work, he looked intently at her face. He studied her and watched carefully her reaction -- her eyes, her mouth, her smile. He smiled as he watched her face. But the moment he looked down to his work, he lost that smile. Her countenance was his approval. How wonderful, and frightening is this! The power of a parent’s face –- their look of approval or disappointment.
As a Christian, I wonder how much of my sense of approval comes from my studying the face of God in Jesus, and how much of it comes from my studying the faces of others in reaction to my work and efforts, or from my studying and approving my own work in my heart and mind. From a child-like perspective, God’s face never changes towards me. No, it is always favorable towards me. Even in discipline, it is always beaming with love, not clouded with frustration. God’s smile over me is Christ, and in Christ alone I am accepted, approved and appreciated.
For a child, then, there should never be the sense of “good enough”. Good enough for what?! To be welcomed, accepted, approved, appreciated, loved? What an unbearable weight, one that crushes and squeezes all the life, joy, energy, peace, fun and happiness out of a heart. How many times do I try to live up to and stand up under the weight of “Christian enough”? How often do I cast stones of “Christian enough” towards others whom I perceive to be less accepted, approved and appreciated by God because of their words and actions? I monitor and measure and sneer at their work and effort as they “follow Jesus”.
“Christian enough” is a slap to the face of Jesus. It’s an insult to His precious blood, which forgives and cleanses. It’s a mockery of the power of the cross, which liberates and transforms. Either we are saved by grace, eternally justified, or we’re not. Either we are children of God, children of mercy, or we’re not. In the sight of God and before the glory of His face, there are none who are half-accepted, half-approved or half-appreciated. There are not merely a few who are good enough and “Christian enough”. For by grace through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, God smiled over a sinner like me, and He still smiles. As far as the east is from the west, is a frown of rejection, disapproval or disgust from the face of God.
Look up to His face, not down to your work or down on the work of others.
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