“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

“An “F”… on a test?” And just like that, right in the middle of a Mexican Restaurant, court was in session! The occasion was lunch after church. As a group of us met around chips and salsa, my daughter said that her son, my grandson, had missed school due to illness, then subsequently got an “F” on a test. Embarrassed, the lad defiantly hollered, “Whatdaya expect ME to do about it!?”

Since the service was slow and we had a lot of time, questions popped out from nearly every adult sitting at the table. The object? A school test. The subject? Math. The preparation? Nada! As the hole got deeper, my defendant grandson got more attitude. Which made ME more disappointed. But when the KIND of math turned out to be Algebra, I lowered my head in shame, then reflected.

In Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way,” one of the lines says, “regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.” In MY life I’ve had more than just a few. Algebra was one of them. I took Algebra 3 times in school. I earned a ‘D’ all three times! To this day I carry a scar over my incomprehension of understanding ANYTHING Algebraic. In remembering MY failure, I took the high road!

There was no doubt in my mind that, had that same test been given to the adults at the table, we all would have received the same grade. So it wasn’t about math. It was about Character! And the question on the table wasn’t what WE thought about it, but rather what HE thought about it! Thus, MY responsibility as Patriarch, was to help HIM see THAT, and to discover what HE should DO about it.

Jesus is my Teacher and… He is TOUGH! There are lessons and pop quizzes EVERY DAY, so keeping up is tough. Admittedly there are more ‘F’s’ than ‘A’s.’ But that does NOT stop ‘The Teacher’ from doing what He does. Nor does it lower His expectations of me. Today’s verse says that God made me to DO good works, and His expectation is I DO THEM WELL… ALWAYS! Defiance only adds scars to the pain.

With Jesus, there is no punishment! He died to free me from all that. But there ARE consequences and expectations that come with the Freedom He procured on my behalf. Because HE cares, He expects ME to care as well. AND to DO something about it when an ‘F’ shows up on my report card. I’ve learned that, positively expecting me to learn from my negatives, is kind of His thing!

So where are YOU failing to meet His standards? What is He suggesting YOU DO about it? Are you doing it? Because Character Counts, He will NOT ‘let it go!!’  Now THAT”s a key to li’F’e!