Parable of the Bratty Toddler

I know a bratty toddler. He can be sweet, but he's usually ungrateful, disobedient, wasteful, and thinks the world revolves around him. It pains me to be around him.

This episode really happened.
Dad: You better do what the boss [meaning Mom] says!
Boy: I am the boss!
Dad: No, you're not!
Me (to myself): Yes, he very clearly is. Dad saying his son's not the boss doesn't make it so.

If only those parents would realize that they've got to win in those head-to-head's with their son. Good news: "It's never too late to start doing what's right."

Now the parable part. Next time you see a brat, consider him a mirror of your own soul.

Bratty behavior makes people unlovely. It's bratty to celebrate Someone's birthday by refusing to say his name, but eating his food, drinking his wine, breathing his air, and going around with a sense of entitlement to more, more, more.

At Christmas time, God sent His Son to save brats. Not toddlers who are under-guided by their parents, but full-grown brats who think they've got it all figured out on their own without God, thank you very much.

But if I could see through my delusion, I'd marvel that, instead of the doom that every brat deserves, Christ came to offer me a new home. With Him. Because He loves me. Even though I'm unlovely.

"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

Merry Christmas, fellow brats!

P.S. It's also bratty to resent it when someone presumes to correct me.