Day 2 Spoiled Children

Words from the Rock

How can I account for this generation? The people have been like spoiled children whining to their parents, “We wanted to skip rope, and you were always too tired; we wanted to talk, but you were always too busy.” John came fasting and they called him crazy. I came feasting and they called me a lush, a friend of the riffraff. Opinion polls don’t count for much, do they? The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Matthew 11:16–19 Message

Most of us don’t really seem to know what we want. Oh, we might know what we want to eat for lunch or recognize some other immediate need, but when it comes to the larger picture, many of us aren’t too sure. Maybe it’s because we don’t take the time to really think about our lives and where they’re headed. Or maybe we’re just generally distracted.

But Jesus came to earth with a very specific plan. A plan that a lot of people just didn’t get—at least while he was in their midst. Later on, after Jesus was no longer with them, they began to grasp what he had been up to. Through the help of the Holy Spirit, people finally understood that Jesus’s plan had been to connect himself with people—all people—and to reunite them to God. It was actually fairly simple.

And it’s just that simple today. Jesus’s plan hasn’t changed a bit. He still wants to connect with us and reunite us to God. But some people refuse to accept this. They want it their way. They want to play “religious” games that confuse and complicate things so that Jesus’s plan starts to look murky and eventually gets lost by the wayside. Jesus compares those people to spoiled children—because they want everything their way. It’s as if they are determined not to figure out that God has a better way. And so they don’t. But Jesus wants us to focus on him, to separate his way from all the games and distractions that might try to trip us. And then we won’t be like spoiled children, whining because they didn’t get their own way.

My Prayer

Dear God,

Don’t let me be like a spoiled kid, throwing a tantrum because things aren’t going my way. Help me to understand that your way is best. I want your way for my life.

Amen.

Final Word

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:15 NLT

Stone for the Journey

When I demand my own way, I end up lost . . . but God’s way leads me back.