Last night, knowing that I would be spending the rest of the weekend in Chicago for the North Central regionals, I took some time to “talk” with and read with my baby girl. I’ve come to realize these are precious moments in a father’s life because most of my days are spent apart from her and I miss so much of what goes on every day. She is literally developing hourly and some of those major developments I miss each day. So when the opportunity comes for me to hold her for a little bit and pray with her and read to her, it’s a small slice of heaven for me.
Last night as we were winding down I was reading the “Jesus Storybook Bible” to Emma. If you have no idea what this specific children’s Bible is, then trust me and buy it. It literally is the best children’s Bible on the market and every adult I know could afford to read it three or four times a year.
As I was reading from the beginning with her, we got to the end of the creation story and the fall of Adam and Eve. If you haven’t read the storybook Bible, then you don’t know that the author takes the story of the Bible and writes it such that it’s narrative based and also always pointing to the main character in the story, Jesus. We got to the end of the first section and the author commented on the truth that, despite our sin and the fall of man, God love was everlasting and always faithful. Here’s the direct quote.
“You see no matter what, in spite of everything, God would love his children with a Never-Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love. And though they would forget him, and run from Him, deep in their hearts God’s children would miss Him always, and long for Him — lost children yearning for their home.”
Reading the storybook Bible last night was a good reminder of God’s everlasting faithfulness especially towards sinners bent on being unfaithful. With our first week of Regionals happening, there’s going to be hundreds of athletes and hundreds of coaches who will base their merit and their value off of their performance and final results from this weekend. Reading this last night was a good reminder that our performance or overall standing WILL NOT change how The Lord looks at us or our value to Him.
Our value and standing before God is wrapped up in His justice relinquished on Christ and His never-ending love. Our works, performance, and status in the world cannot be our identity because sooner or later it will fail us. Probably sooner rather than later. Our hope is wrapped up in Him because He has never failed us and will never be anything but faithful.
Regional Competitors: good luck this weekend but remember your gifts, talent, and ultimately your performance is His and He deserves the glory.