Don't Let Go

I see little ones walking with their parents, hand in hand, all of the time. It is interesting to watch the dynamic unfold. Some children follow along quietly with no desire to leave their parent's side. Some are so afraid and shy that they move closer if a stranger gets too close. Some children see something they want and start pulling their hands out of their parent's hands just to get to it. It seems to them that it is something they desperately need. Sometimes they will cry and scream and kick to get away, but the parent knows that they do not know what is best. But as children, we have no idea what is good or bad and cannot see the consequences that may occur. 

As parents, we just want to keep them close and protect them. We look to the future and see how things could play out. We have a sense of good and evil and we don't want our children to suffer at the hands of fate, because they made a misstep. Sometimes we see ourselves in them and know what pain would come if we let them go. And yet sometimes they struggle and fight so hard against our better judgment that we lose a grip on them by accident and go running after them. At times, we choose to let them go. We assessed the risk and the ultimate value in the lesson that they must learn, we know that they will stumble... but the lesson could be so much more valuable to them in the future, that we allow their free-will. 

Mat. 18:6: But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

I look back on my life and I see every single bad choice that I made. I cringe at my own ignorance, stubbornness and the brokenness that led me to pull away and run right into darkness. I can honestly say that some horrific things were not my doing. I was a victim of other people's brokenness, not my own. This is why we fight so hard to keep our children from the darkness of this world. We know and have experienced what is out there; the unthinkable. They are innocent and truly think that nothing bad can happen to them. 

Jm 4: 17: So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Mk 4:16-17: These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy. But they have no root in themselves and do not endure. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

Years ago, when I watched the Passion of the Christ, it hurt my heart so badly to imagine that He was brutalized and was willing to die for my sins those many centuries ago. So, in my mind, every sinful choice that I made was one more stripe that he had to bare to save me. 

I see my past and every single incident where He gently told me no and held onto my hand but I yanked it free and ran into the storm. He hurt for me. He cried for me. He even pursued me. I can hear the words of warning. I can still hear His stern voice and yet feel His unconditional love surround me when I truly did not deserve a thing. He rescued me from myself and a dark world.

1 Pt 2:25: For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

So, little children, do not wander from Him. Do not assume that you can knowingly make bad choices until your death bed and then be forgiven. Do not keep your children from knowing Him and being able to make their own decisions toward Him. Know that He sees the results of your choices and wants to protect you. If you ignore Him long enough, He could harden your heart so that you do not seek Him at all and he can give you over to your sins. He is the One holding your hand and helping you resist. You cannot do it alone.

1 Jn 3: 6-10: No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Is 6: 9-10: And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”