Everyone is human. Everyone makes mistakes. For the life of me, though, I cannot think of anything seriously morally wrong that my parents did in my entire life. I think they must be as close to perfect as possible.
When you grow up in a family you get to see everyone's flaws because it is difficult to be fake to people you are living with, so it would stand to reason that I should have seen something that my parents did wrong. I can't think of anything, though. They didn't even do the things that a lot of people in church seem to think aren't really sins.
My mom was not a gossip. My dad was not greedy. They never told a lie. They never took advantage of a situation for financial gain. Neither of them did anything that even appeared remotely unseemly. I think there is a probably warranted feeling in American culture that people who have the appearance of piety are not so holy when no one is looking. I did not have that opinion when I was growing up, though, because what people saw of my parents in church was exactly the same as what I saw at home.
While this is a spectacular legacy, it was a little annoying to grow up with, because no one can live up to perfection. It took me a while to truly accept the concepts of grace and mercy because seeing near perfection gave me a brutal view of anything that could be even a close approximation to sin for a while. That shouldn't be blamed on my parents, though, because to do so would be to blame them for not slipping up at some point. That is lunacy.
As NJ is growing up I am becoming more and more alert to the impression that he will get from his parents. His soon-to-be sibling will be watching as well. I don't want either of them to think that they have to be perfect through their own power, because that can ultimately lead to a frustrated rejection of God or a lifetime of faking it. I also don't want them to think that anything is acceptable because grace covers it, because that can eventually lead to serving something that isn't quite God or even passively rejecting Him. Most importantly, though, I don't want them to think their parents hypocrites. I don't want them to have an excuse to reject God. How is that possible, though? Nobody is perfect.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
My parents were far from perfect, although I believe my mom tried the best she could. It would be a lie to say my dad wasn't greedy. I know I'm not a perfect parent either, but I do think about what kind of impression I leave on my children.
All we can do is to do the best that we can and pray that God will bless it.
I feel like I am a hypocrite sometimes so you will have to be the perfect one. : )
Yep!
Post a Comment