One-Tired Preacher “Did I do good Daddy?” When Michelle, my oldest child, was three we put her in gymnastics and I learned two very important lessons. First, that as her father I cared deeply about how she did! One of my favorite things to do was to watch my little girl perform. Second, my little girl cared deeply about her daddy’s opinion about how she did and coveted my praise. When she finally managed to get her head to quit skidding and her legs up high enough to do her first very crooked summersault she ran into my arms and said, “Did I do good daddy?” She was far from the best in the class, but no one tried harder or cared more about their daddy’s opinion. I enjoyed hugging her and looking into those eyes that had so much anticipation for my reply and say, “You did good honey, you did very good! I totally agree with Alvin Price when he said, “Parents need to fill a child’s bucket of self-esteem so full that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes in it to drain it dry.” Michelle, is now a mother of three, all in diapers. She asked me to go with her for a six kilometer run, (I biked). With her dad watching she knocked almost three minutes off of her time. Her determination and effort still impresses me. At thirty she didn’t run into my arms and ask, “Did I do good daddy?” but she asked me to go with her for a reason and I enjoyed telling her how good she did. Yesterday my twenty-two year old son and I went for a unicycle ride. I hadn’t seen Tim ride for a couple of months and was surprised and impressed that he learned some new tricks. He now can leave the seat on the ground and just step onto the pedals and ride as the seat skids along the ground behind him. You may have to ride a unicycle to appreciate this. But it is nothing short of amazing. When he finally lost his balance he looked straight at me as if to say, “Did I do good daddy” and I praised him! Sunday after church I went to the lake with a small group of people and had the awesome privilege of baptizing Adria, an outwardly and inwardly beautiful young girl. We sang a couple of songs, laid hands on Adria and prayed for her, I shared a few verses about baptism and then Adria and I went into the water. Adria’s dad was there and I could see in his eyes how proud he was of her and I knew Adria was so happy he was there to witness this special moment in her life as children always care about dad’s approval. Hey I wondered what my heavenly daddy was thinking about how I did in the morning’s service and with this baptism. Jesus’ baptism came to my mind. When Jesus came up out of the water, heaven was opened, and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending on Him like a dove and then He heard God’s voice say, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” I sensed God was saying the same to me, and I smiled! I want Adria to know that when she came up out of the water God was saying, “This is my daughter, whom I love with her I am well pleased.” In other words, Adria your heavenly daddy wants you to know you did good! “Did I do good daddy” is a principal that should guide everything a child of God does! As our children care deeply if what they do is pleasing to their earthly daddy we as Christians must care deeply if what we do is pleasing to our heavenly daddy. As I write this article I want you to like it but I’m learning to care more about whether God likes it as it is His approval that really matters. John 12:43 sums up the problem most of us have in living for God, “for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” May you and I learn to look towards heaven and say to God in everything we do, “Did I do good daddy?” As we do may we learn to care more about His opinion than that of those around us. This is great advice because when your life is over God’s opinion is the only one that will matter and until then no one will fill you self-esteem bucket as full as God, so learn to look to Him and say, “Did I do good daddy?” Then hear Him say, “This is my child whom I love with them I am well pleased! In His Grip Pastor Dave Hesje
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 17:44:08 +0000