We went on a 3 day family trip a few months ago. The toddler was, well, a toddler. He wasn’t very used to trips, staying in hotels, and dealing with the level of overstimulation that travel frequently creates. By the time we were ready to go home, he was done. He was belligerent, ornery, defiant, and any other adjective you can think of that would describe an overtired toddler at the end of a trip. Do you have the picture in your mind? We managed to get the car packed for the ride home while trying to keep said toddler from running free in the parking garage. My husband stopped and laughed. He looked at this adorable bundle of defiance trying to pull away from me and asked, “So, did he earn a ride home?”
“No!” I shouted, trying to find any shred of patience and sanity left in me. “He certainly did not!”
“But we’ll bring him home safely, anyway.” Hubby smiled. “Why is that?”
I took a deep breath, starting to see what he was getting at. “Based on sonship.”
“Yes. Based on sonship. Not too different from us, huh?”
It was a very interesting observation. Our toddler had done absolutely nothing to deserve a ride home. But we would never dream of leaving him behind. We would die to protect him from any harm anyone else could cause him or that he would even cause to himself. Isn’t that how God is with us? We can be ornery, defiant, and stubborn. We dress it up so it looks much nicer than the two year old does, but is it so different? And yet God, because we are His sons and daughters, gave Himself for us. Not based on what we deserved, but based on our relationship to Him and His love for us. He protects us and will bring us home.
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:15-16
Amy Lynn Simon 
This is so true and something that we tend to forget when dealing with our children. I know in my home the “we never acted like that when we were younger” comment is said often. The truth is…that is most likely not true. Our children don’t have to earn our love just as we don’t earn our Father’s love. We love them regardless of their mistakes and tantrums. I know I need to focus on showing that love more clearly.