Dark Clouds, Blue Skies

The weather outside this morning reminded me of a conversation my daughter and I had several years back when she was little. J has always had a pretty laid back kind of personality, not one to get in much trouble. But for some reason, during this particular season of her life, she had been testing the boundaries left and right. So we stepped up to the challenge, giving her a fair trade...one consequence for every wrong and disobedient action on her part. Instead of it softening her heart, thus changing her behavior, she started taking it personally and told me sadly one day, "I'm just a bad kid." This word picture just popped in my head as we were sitting outside and I told her, "Honey, look up at the sky. What color is it?" She responded as I knew she would, "Gray." "Nope, it's not gray," I said. She looked confused. Indeed, it was very dark and cloudy that day (as it is today), but there just happened to be one small 'hole' where the clouds were parted and you could see plainly the true color of the sky...blue. I told her, "You are a blue sky. That is how God created you and how he sees you. But your sin and disobedience are like those gray clouds-covering up your true colors." It seemed to make sense to her and helped change her outlook on herself.

I think we all get down on ourselves occasionally when we tend to repeat the same mistake over and over, even though we know it's not right. Or we continually fall back into our sinful ways and thought patterns we once held onto before we came to Christ. We begin to believe Satan's lies (he is referred to as the Father of lies in John 8:44) and take his accusations personally (he is also referred to as the Accuser in Revelation 12:10), instead of seeing ourselves how God does. In Ephesians 1:3-8 listen to what God has to say about us:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ; for He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

You and I are: *Blessed, *Chosen, *Adopted, *Favored, *Redeemed, *Forgiven

Do you see yourself as a gray cloud or as a blue sky? I know the illustration is a little child-like, but sometimes that's the level I work best on. ;) I pray that today "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." Romans 6:7,8