“We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” Colossians 1:28 BSB

My granddaughter sat at the counter eating a crunchy snack. When the bag was empty, she started to play a game with the crumb, using her hands to sweep them all into a pile. “How thoughtful of her,” I thought. Then she swept the pile right onto the kitchen floor! My wife had just cleaned them 2 hours before! I was horrified and corrected her actions by admonishing her for trashing her grandmother’s recent hard work! A little guilt might help??? Or so I thought.

Later, we were at a restaurant and again, the whole scene played out like a scene from the Twilight Zone. I watched with interest as she gathered a small pile of breadcrumbs together in front of her. Without even looking my direction, she quickly swept them right onto the carpet… with ZERO remorse, I might add! In shock again, I appealed to her sympathetic side by explaining someone ELSE will now have to clean up HER mess. Even now, I am not sure if the teaching moment made a difference.

Around the world at various times I am sure there have been peasants who were executed by tyrants for lesser offenses. Lawbreakers and the inconsiderate shared the same fate. Death, banishment, hard labor, beatings and prison are penalties for infractions of any kind. While 1 or 2 of those options may have appealed to me at that moment, all I could do was shake my head with a smirk. After all, she IS my Granddaughter! I paid for her meal.

The only thing harder than ‘being good’ is to try to teach someone ELSE how to ‘be good.’ Because of SO much bad, the system seems rigged for failure. Holding up a list of rules seems to make things WORSE… not better. Enter God, the original ‘Rule Maker!’ He DEMANDED that men be PERFECT if we want to be on His team. 2/3rds through the play, everyone in the room was SHOCKED when He tore up the script!

It is an impossible task to teach people, who are already guilty of being bad, to behave. Guilt had only 1 consequence… punishment. But when God sent His Son to PAY for guilty, Teachers became Preachers of a New Gospel. And the new script? “It isn’t about what you DO… it is about who’s you ARE!

I love my granddaughter. I want everyone ELSE to love her too. With that in mind, I work to instill qualities that will help in that regard. But regardless of what anyone else thinks or believes, she IS MY GRANDDAUGHTER. My love for her makes me choose to see her… perfect! Which is exactly how God sees her! The lessons WILL continue because she is related to me! Crumbs and all!