(Ephesians 6:1)
Obeying your parents. Depending on the translation you are using, there is
a part of this verse that talks of obeying your parents "in the Lord". The
original Greek text actually translates "for the Lord's sake". Why is it so
important to the Lord that we obey our parents? As we grow up, our parents
are the first authority figures we are exposed to. We learn at a very early
age that our behavior is governed by others. We learn how to make choices.
We learn that there are consequences for the choices we make, good and bad.
Obeying our parents teaches us that we are accountable for the things that
we do in this life. Once we start school, we then realize that our actions
there are governed by our teachers and the school administration. We then
learn that society has laws we must follow and the police, prosecutors, and
judges have been put in place to enforce those laws. The reason this is
such an important issue is because while we have those in authority over us
during our life here on earth, we also have God, our Creator in ultimate
authority over our life. Obeying our parents is critical because if we
don't learn how to obey the authority that our parents have over our life,
we will never learn to obey God who has the ultimate authority over our
life.
You see my friend, God loves us. Most of you have or had a parent or
parents who love you. When your parents give you rules to follow, it is not
to make your life harder, but easier. It is from that love that they tell
you what you can and can't do. Some things are common sense; others are
from experience. You see, they know what the end result of certain
decisions will be, and they are trying to keep you from making mistakes.
That is what God does also. In His Word he tells us things we shouldn't do,
many which are obvious and common sense. Then there are others that come
from God knowing what the ultimate outcome will be. The most vivid example
is God's warning not to be unequally yoked. The literal meaning of that
verse in context is talking about marriage, a Christian not being married
to a non-Christian. Why? If you could come to Liveprayer someday and read
some of the email, you would understand quickly. Just like parents have a
reason for rules that we may not totally understand or agree with, so does
God. Obedience is a way that we can protect ourselves.
Of course, God gave us all free will. It is understandable, since otherwise
we would be little more than robots. But there have been times when I wish
I didn't have the ability to make choices. We usually learn at a very early
age that when we make the wrong choice, there are consequences. Often we
have to pay a price for disobedience. Those consequences hopefully serve as
a mechanism to help us in the future make the correct choice. Punishment
for disobedience is designed to help us learn that we can not disobey and
get away with it. In Hebrews 12:5,6 it tells us that God punishes those He
loves. Punishment is not meant to make us mad or to push us into further
disobedience. Instead, it is designed to help us understand that we are to
be obedient children, and that there are consequences associated with
disobedience. Let me say here, that many have this image of God who
delights in punishing His disobedient children, and that all of the
hardships we suffer must be punishment for things we did wrong. While there
may be some direct consequences from sinful activity, God loves you and is
not a God of punishment, but a God of grace and mercy. Trust me, if He
wanted to inflict punishment on us for our disobedience, we would never be
able to live under the weight of the hardships we would have to endure. It
is important for us to learn that free will is not a license to disobey, but
to obey.
I love you and care about you so much. Being obedient to our parents is
something the Lord has asked us to do for His sake. It also teaches us how
to obey since we need to be obedient to Him as well. For some like me,
there is a rebellious nature that is obviously part of our sin nature we
inherited. Never forget it was Satan's rebellion that got him thrown out of
Heaven. It was the rebellion of Adam and Eve that brought sin into the
human condition. So we are born with a rebellious nature, a tendency to
disobey. That is all the more reason why we must be aware of how important
our obedience is, if for no other reason than to avoid the consequences of
our disobedience. Ultimately though, we obey out of love. Our parents love
us enough to give us rules to follow to help us in our life. We need to
understand that and obey out of love for them. God loves us enough to
gives rules to follow to help us in our life. We need to understand that,
and obey out of love. I pray today that you will see how important
obedience is and that out of love, you will obey your parents, and out of love,
you will obey God.
