Today’s Daily Bread ~ the sticker charts…

Matthew 23:37-38 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers!  How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.  And now look, your house is left to you empty and desolate.  For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

We’re attempting to do a bit of behavior modification in my house.  Mike has made two sticker charts for the kids.  If Nick can go ten days without hitting, kicking, punching or head-butting (yes, it’s a problem, don’t laugh), he gets a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.  The same goes for Caitlyn if she can make it ten days without whining.

After yesterday, I decided that I can go ahead and spend that money I’ve been saving up for tokens. 

The whining that poured continuously from my daughter’s mouth could’ve won her an Oscar, should the Academy ever deem whining award-worthy.  It started when I picked the children up at noon, and it stopped when she fell asleep at 8:30pm.

I had decided at about 12:15 that she wasn’t getting a sticker for the day (which only served to prompt more whining).  At about 6:45, when I was cleaning the dinner dishes, I made her go sit on the steps (raising the decibel of the whine about 50 points), and at 7:20 I told her that, because she simply couldn’t stop, there would be no books before bed.  That didn’t cause whining.  That caused my normal sweet natured girl to simply crumple onto my bed and quietly sob.  As I stood there and watched her little shoulders shake, I felt physically ill.

Punishing my children hurts so much.  We all remember our parents saying it before the spanking, “You know, this hurts me more than it does you.”  But I never believed it until I experienced it.

I get it now.  I want my children to do well in school.  Not because I care about the grades, but because I want them to have every opportunity to go to the college of their choice.  I want their career options to be endless.  I want Nick to learn how to play with other kids because I don’t ever want him to feel the isolation of having no friends.  Can you imagine how our Heavenly Father feels when His precious children, His crown jewels of creation, refuse His grace?

How I wish I could’ve seen the look on Jesus’ face as He uttered these words.  “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers!  How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”  He loved the Jews so very much.  God’s chosen nation to bring the Word of God to the rest of the world.  And the majority of them rejected Him.

This passage was originally recorded in Greek, and the original language is packed with meaning.  The word used for “wanted to” is thelo`, pronounced eth-el-o’, meaning “strongly desires to, am delighted to, wishing to, intending to.”  I believe that Jesus desired to gather His people the way a mother craves her newborn infant after being away.  Remember the feeling?  I do.  When I haven’t seen my children for a certain period of time my arms ache, and my heart hurts.  I miss their smell, I want to bury my face in their hair and gather them to my chest.  Dear friend, Jesus feels the same way about you.

I know someone who had to ask their child to leave their home, because of their drug use.  The child had begun stealing from them, and refused to go into rehab.  They began to feel that their other children were in danger, so they kicked him out.  To see their grief, you would’ve thought they lost their precious son.  In a terrifying way they had.

Do you realize that when we walk in deliberate disobedience and reject the priceless gift of God’s grace we break His heart?  Matthew 18:12-14 – “If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do?  Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one?  And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away!  In the same way, it is not my Heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.”

As a mother, I can tell you that if one of my children were missing I wouldn’t rest until I found them.  I would search until I could no longer stand, for they are far more precious to me than my own life.  YOU are far more precious to Jesus than His own life, for He gave it up for you on the cross.  He gave it up for all of us.  Let us search out the lost with the same diligence that we would if it were our own loved ones.  Let us give them the life-changing Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  There are so many who’ve wandered away, and the Shepherd is counting on us.

Dear Heavenly Father, we love You so much.  You are too great to comprehend.  We can scarcely wrap our brains around the magnitude of the cross, and because of that, we are guilty of taking it for granted.  Please forgive us for that.  Please touch our eyes, that we might see Your people as You do.  Please touch our hearts so we can love them like You do.  Please multiply our faith exponentially, and give us the strength and courage to bring Your sheep back into Your fold.  We love You, God, and we lift our prayers to You in the glorious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.