Faith Like A Child- Big girl beds, sin, and the throne of grace!

        We recently made the big transition with our two year old getting her crib taken down and replacing in with "A big girl bed."  For those of you who have never gone through this transition, let me share with you a bit of the ramifications of moving from a crib to a "big girl bed."  A crib has four sides which confine the child.  Meaning:  when the child is in bed, they will stay in bed (unless they begin climbing out of the crib but that's a story for another day).  A big girl bed has..... no sides.  Meaning:  They can get out of bed whenever they want to.  The first several days of the switch were great and we had no issues of Anaya getting out of bed when she was supposed to be sleeping.  However, in recent days that initial success has come to a screeching halt.  It was a few minutes after putting her to bed and she came walking back out into the living room, so we calmly reminded her that it was bed time, and that she needed to stay in bed until morning.  A few minutes later she was back in the living room, and this time we were a bit more stern about reminding her that she needed to stay in bed.  A few minutes later, she was back again.  This time we were even more firm and stern with her as we picked her up and quickly deposited her back into her bed.  

      A few minutes later...... here she comes again!  However, this time it was different.  She was walking incredibly slow and she had covered her face with her blanket because she knew very well that she was doing something she was not supposed to be doing and she was hoping that if we did not see her that she would avoid getting in trouble.  You can probably guess how well that worked for her.... it didn't!  That was the last battle of the night.  Mom and Dad finally proved victorious as Anaya did not make another appearance until morning!  There is nothing quite like the calm and quiet of a house full of kids who are sound asleep!  

      The whole event got me thinking about sin.  We all sin, that is not a surprise to any of us!  We all have sin that we seem to struggle with more than others.  That one sin that we seem to commit time and time, and time, and time, again.  It is often with those repetitive ongoing sins that we attempt to hide them from God.  We no longer want God to see our sin, we no longer want to ask God for forgiveness for our sin because we have come to him time and time, and time, and time again with our sin and we are to the point where we just want hide our faces in hopes that God will no longer see our sin.  

      Friend, this brings us to the beauty of the Gospel message.  We can take the blanket off, we can stop trying to hide our sin from God (because it doesn't work), and we can allow Him through His spirit to transform us more into the likeness of Jesus.  If you have entered into a relationship with God, through Jesus, when God looks at you He no longer see's your sin, He see's the perfect righteousness of Jesus which has been imputed (placed) on you!  How incredible is that!  It is not because you deserved it, it is not because you only came out of your room 3 times last night, it is totally and completely the grace of God given to you, a sinner.  

       Hebrews 4:14-16 is the perfect description of what this looks like, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  Friend, approach the throne of grace with confidence, take the blanket off your face and go before God knowing that you will find the grace and help you need!