It's MINE!

How many times do mothers of toddlers hear the phrase, "it's mine"? From birth, our children want to acquire and keep everything for themselves. Toys, food, mommy and daddy...the list goes on. My daughter can be perfectly content playing with one toy, but the second her brother touches a different toy, she yanks it out of his hand and piles all of her toys on the couch where he can't reach them. Nevermind the "one toy at a time" rule, she just doesn't want her brother using her toys. And I wish I could say the selfishness diminishes with age. But when someone uses something of mine, I am always nervous that it may get ruined. Our toys are only more expensive as we age, but the selfishness is ever-present.

As we were heading home from church on Easter morning, we were reviewing what we learned about Christ and the resurrection. Our daughter says, "Jesus died on the cross and they hammered his boo-boos." What a sweet insight into our daughter's mind! Then we asked her if she knew why Jesus died on the cross. My husband explained, "He died to take away our sin!" Our daughter's eyes got really big, and she got irritated and said, "I DON'T WANT HIM TO TAKE IT AWAY! NO!" As if to say, "It's MINE!" Oh, if she only knew how accurate that statement was! Even in salvation, our hearts don't really want Jesus to take away our sin! We love our things. We love our own desires. Our hearts are set on our own sin, and we really don't want Jesus to take it away! But God, so rich in mercy, gave us a heart set on Himself and paid the debt for our sin even though our hearts wanted to cling to it. Thanks be to God for His gracious salvation!

Lord, give me a heart that is content in giving everything away. And give me the endurance and wisdom to teach my children to lose everything so they may find Jesus. Let their new cry be, "He is mine!"