The other day Gigi had to write a report at school. She chose the animal and wrote a fabulous report. It had interesting facts and included beautifully drawn illustrations. It looked like "A" work. Her grade on the project? An "F." You see, while Gigi's report was beautiful and interesting, she didn't follow the guidelines the teacher had instructed. Each report was to include information about the animal's predators and prey. Each one of those topics was worth 20 points. Missing those 2 topics made her lose 40 points - and she received a 60. Her first F.
You know we often look at our own lives and think we doing fine. We're "good" people. Life is beautiful, or at least interesting. We don't need a Savior or a God. But truth is, if you look at the guidelines (the Bible), you'll see that even though we might think we're an "A", we're really an "F".
Like Gigi's report, if you judge us on own merit, you might think we're doing pretty well. But God provides clear guidelines in the Bible that we are meant to follow and we don't. We deserve to fail.
Gigi was quick to get with her teacher before she even came home from school that day. She requested and received an "extra credit" project to pull her grade up. Her teacher had mercy on her. God too has mercy on us. We don't even have to do the extra credit. Jesus did the work on the cross on our behalf, and all we have to do is accept him and believe in him.
With Jesus' extra credit work, we can earn the A, the gift of eternal life. Review the guidelines today, and then determine what do your grades look like?
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If you were looking for the "Celebrity Doppelganger" post that I wrote yesterday, and clicked from your followers Reading List, please note I inadvertently published it. I meant to preschedule it, so I removed it. That is why you can't open it. It is scheduled for March 5 now.
16 comments:
Poor little Gigi! I'm glad she could make it up.
What a great analogy. Yes, we can think we are soaring right along until we judge ourselves against the word of God. I often think of the scripture about removing the plank from my own eye before pointing out someone's speck in his.
I am grateful for Jesus and God's mercy that is new every morning.
Love!
Beth
Love, love,love mercy! :)
Hard lesson to learn but we needs to follow the rules, especially God's. :O)
www.dianeestrella.com
Bless her heart, don't you know her heart dropped when she seen that. But good for her that she went to see what she did to pull it up. She didn't panic! I love your thoughts and how you paralled this to our lives. I always enjoy your posts. A blessing!
until next time... nel
I am so thankful the teacher gave her extra credit. God is so merciful to us. We think we are always doing the right thing, or so it appears. I am thankful He always brings those things to the light and doesn't leave me there.
Aw poor Gigi! I love her sense of responsibility though.
This is a great analogy. It doesn't just apply to salvation but to blessings for the believer. Blessings are often a result of obedience, following what God says to do will bring us the reward of blessing. When we choose not to follow His direction then we lose the blessing (the "A").
Kelly,
What a great post and I agree with you that we would all receive our own failing grade if it were not for grace. Thank the Lord for that.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
I don't like it when you tease us...
I'll be waiting!
Some lessons are hard to learn...but I love her tenacity in looking for make up work. Love the analogy on following guidelines and God's mercy. It can look beautiful to us, and still not be right. Good post!!
Persevere Gigi!! Persevere.
Thank God for mercy and grace huh Kelly? Without it I'd flunk for sure. :)
Kelly,
Great story. I am so impressed with how you continually get such a powerful message across so succinctly.
Poor Gigi! I know how my son would feel. When you're used to getting excellent grades receiving an F is a startling experience!
You're so right that sometimes we need that same wake up call.
Ha...I wondered about the Celebrity Dopplegander. (Yes, I could go back and get the spelling right, but you know what I mean.)
Bless little GiGi's heart. never have I met a more dedicated student.But this was a great (although difficult) lesson for her. Also, her typical straight A grades are sure to be part of the reason the teacher was so willing to let her work her grade up.
Reminds me of that quiz that most teachers give out at some time or another where the directions say to read the entire paper before doing anything. At the very end it says Do Not Answer any of the questions. Just put your pencil down and wait. I was one of those kids furiously scribbleing down the answers because I didn't follow the directions.
Ditto the third paragraph of Monkey's answer for me.
I always hated the system of grades.
Happy for Gigi that she was able to work out a way to maintain her "A".
Kelly...I get the message here and I agree. BUT I have to wonder about giving a 10yo an F???? Especially when it was done well...perhaps showing the mercy before telling her she got an F. This is just my opinion as a teacher.
Glad she's able to redo and get the extra credit.
And, yes, I'm 100% thankful for grace and mercy extended to me regularly by my Heavenly Father.
We question why we have the Law when we have Jesus. Well, because we need to know the things that we do wrong, and that's what the Law provides. Those guidelines really are important.
But, thankfully, we have Jesus, too! Otherwise, we would all be suffering in our attempts to be Pharisees and Sadducees in maintaining every letter of the Law, which is just not possible for mere mortals.
The rules of grace apply, Praise God! And Gigi has learned more lessons than those from her animal report!!
Kelly, this is such a great lesson. I'm so glad Gigi was able to get another assignment. And I'm so glad that God loves me.
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