Erik Hatzinger confessed to stealing money from several businesses over many months. He seems to be repentant, for when the judge ordered him to pay $13,000 in restitution, Erik informed the judge that he had stolen more and would like to pay it all back.

“That’s the son I raised,” his mother told a reporter. “I’m not surprised he wanted to take responsibility for what he’d done. He really wants to make amends.” Leave it to a parent to find the silver lining in her convict child. Others may have pointed out Erik’s crimes, but she focused on the judge’s comment that her son is the most repentant criminal he’d ever seen.

David, who committed a few crimes of his own, said our God is a compassionate Father who “does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve,” but “He remembers we are only dust” (Psalm 103:10,14).

John Calvin explained that endless acceptance is the special privilege of children. Slaves work hard to satisfy their master, knowing they might be punished for doing a poor job. “But children, who are more liberally and kindly treated by their fathers, do not fear to present to their fathers their rough and half-done works, and even ones which have some faults, trusting that their obedience and good will are acceptable to their father even if they have not done what he wanted.”

We want to please our Father, but how comforting to know that our best is enough—even when it’s not. If you suffer from the burden of perfectionism, if you put off assignments for fear that they’ll never be good enough, remember that you are God’s child. He might demand perfection from a slave, but all He wants from you is love.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Romans 12:1-21