By Michael Kelley

Every first time parent is a bit naïve. I know we were.

Sixteen years ago, there were many firsts. First cry; first bath; first dirty diaper; first feeding; first sneeze; first outfit. It was amazingly cute at every moment. Pictures were taken to memorialize every one of those instances and more. Sitting in the hospital for those first 48 hours, it seemed like we were born to be parents (never mind the fact that some wonderful people would come and take the baby away from us for a while when we needed to rest or eat dinner and then bring him back when it was time for him to be precious again).

And then we went home.

Fast forward about 2 weeks, and both my wife and I were walking around in some post-childbirth haze, zombie parents who couldn't remember whether it was Tuesday or the color purple. And suddenly all those cutesy parts of parenting that captured our attention in the early hours weren't so cute any more.

Instead, they were replaced with things like irrational diatribes to an infant offering them everything you own if they would only stop crying at 2:30 am.

I suppose that's how it happens with most parents. No matter how many books you read, how many classes you go to, or how much advice you get - no matter how prepared you think you are, it's impossible to approach parenting realistically. You are, of course, going to be somewhat naïve.

It's like that with marriage, too. There you are on your wedding day, and you say the vows, making the promises about better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health - but in your heart, you sort of believe it's really always going to be the better, richer, and healthier than the opposite. Again, you are going to be somewhat naïve.

But not God.

There is no divine naiveté there. He knows exactly what He's getting from before the word go. Long before the word go actually:

"For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that he favored us with in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:4-6).

With full knowledge of the future, full knowledge of every wrong and right, every wise and foolish move, every act of devotion and every act of betrayal, the Lord chose us in Him. He has never had that moment, Christians, where he looked at that little bundle of a spiritual baby in His arms and in His frustration wondered what He was thinking.

Never. Because none of it takes Him by surprise.

Ever.

Again, here is the apostle on the subject:

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6-8).

This is not some Saving Private Ryan kind of moment in which someone makes a tremendous personal sacrifice and tells the beneficiary to, in light of that sacrifice, "Earn this." Rather, the amazing grace of God is extended in the sacrificial death of Jesus with the full knowledge that we will not, and cannot, "earn this." And the sacrifice is made anyway, with eyes fully open to the truth of our past, present, and future.

While we might look at others in our lives with doubt, thinking something like, "If they only knew," we never need do so with God. He knows. He knows even better than we do. And yet He has proven His love for us even still.

Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.