Her first Lie

You know when people ask you about your kids, and you start to describe them? When I describe Isabella, it goes something like this: 

"Isabella is a perfect child.  If I tell her "no", she rarely challenges me. She's smart and does well in school. She has a pleasant personality, she's easy to be around, and has a contagious laugh. If I were guaranteed more kids like her, I'd definitely have more."  

Geez. I'd love to take credit for her awesomeness, but if you've heard the stories I have of my second child, Cooper (the "fun" one), you know I can't. 

But she's not perfect.

She was about 3 when I started giving her vitamins. She disliked taking them but after I told her why she should be taking them, she didn't argue with me anymore. 

I thought she was on board with the whole vitamin-every-day policy. 

Until the day I took the seat cushions off the couch while cleaning. 

What do you think I found?

Yup. A full weeks' worth of vitamins. 

And that, my friends, was her first lie. 

My heart sank. I knew this was the moment. The moment we all know is inevitable in our lives. Because we aren't perfect.  Despite her awesomeness, her sinful nature was in full display through her first lie. 

If you really think about it, there is no perfect person. We are all born sinners. I know that word, "sinners" is not a popular one. But all it means is that we are all disobedient people. We disobey in thoughts, words, and deeds. We don't always want to disobey, but somehow we just do.  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

Don't let this upset you, me calling all of us sinners. Stay with me. 

Why do we sin (disobey)? Why do we disobey?

Remember Adam and Eve? God only gave them one command to obey. But they disobeyed. They sinned.  And this sin is what separated them from God.  Separated us from God. 

And that is how "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." (Romans 5:12)

So it's really not that big of a deal when I call myself a sinner. When I call Isabella a sinner.  Because that's what we are.  By nature, we are disobedient.  Sit in this one for a moment. 

I'd be pretty depressed reading this right now if I didn't know about this thing called grace. If I didn't know of God's passionate love for humanity. If I didn't know the one called Jesus. 

"For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19)

And all "righteous" means is that we are "in right standing with God". By accepting Jesus; who He was and what He did for us, we are made righteous because He paid for all our sin (our disobedience) through his perfect sacrifice.  

That's it. That's really how simple it is. It's His gift to you with no strings attached. 

You just have to accept it!

Love, CC