Over and over again

"Good manners have been elevated to the level of Christian righteousness.

 ”Moralistic parenting occurs because most of us have a wrong view of the Bible. The story of the Bible isn’t a story about making good little boys and girls better. As Sally Lloyd-Jones writes in The Jesus Storybook Bible:

No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne—everything—to rescue the one he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life.

This is the story that our children need to hear and, like us, they need to hear it over and over again."

from "The Danger of Moralistic Parenting," by Elyse Fitzpatrick, on The Resurgence blog

Kids behaving well is good, and it is very convenient, but it is not enough and it is not the end.
Do I show my kids the same Grace that the Lord has shown me?
How do I find that right balance of justice and mercy?
That is some of what I struggle with.
And that is why I go back to that Story of rescue, the Story that is True, over and over again.

(illustration by Jago, from The Jesus Storybook Bible)