Sorry isn't enough

We're travelling to San Diego for a weekend getaway. My cousin's getting married so it's a wonderful time of meeting up with family and getting to relax a little in one of the best cities in America. Escaping Texas' heat in the middle of July is an added bonus.

My daughter's been excited about the trip for some time. She's going to be a flower girl and she's already got her shoes. While packing tonight, though, my wife's had a hard time to get her to do things. I don't know if it's her excitement from the trip or she's just being a normal four year old, but she's been really bad tonight. When I finally stepped in to get her to do what she's supposed to do, she yelled at me. Or raised her voice as she would say later. Obviously unacceptable behavior. So I punished her. Because some of you may work for Social Services, I won't go into detail. LOL Part of the punishment was the threat of not taking on her on the trip. The tears started to stream down her face. Not during the other phases of the punishment, only when it was threatened she wasn't going.

She has a habit of doing this. I'm sure every child does it, but I've noticed a pattern here. Misbehavior, followed by punishment, followed by remorse. But then the pattern starts all over again. I'm sure my parents are like, get a taste of your own medicine buddy. But it got me to thinking that this must be how God views us sometimes. The Israelites would stray from Him and disobey and dishonor Him. They would bring burnt offerings and think everything was OK. Well it wasn't. God told them that I don't desire your offerings and sacrifices. What I desire is your repentant heart. What good are your sacrifices and offerings if you're just going to repeat the pattern again.

So with that in mind, I looked through the tears and told her sorry wasn't enough. I wasn't going to forgive her immediately. That she had to demonstrate remorse and not to return to the pattern of behavior that caused her to be punished. She looked at me, probably confused from all the words, and said..."Does that mean I get to go to California?" I guess it's going to take a little more work. I told her no...not yet. She would have to prove she was really sorry by changing her behavior. SO if you receive a call from me asking to babysit a four year old, you know the behavior hasn't stopped. LOL It's hard, and I can imagine how hard it is for God to look at us and say...no, prove your remorse by truly repenting. Because sometimes, sorry isn't enough.