"Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord."
-Colossians 3.20
I do not know why God has chosen fit to have given me wonderful parents who love Him, love me, and are seeking after His righteousness present in their lives. However, this I must declare: that I am so very thankful for such parents. I will abound in thanksgiving all the more as I learn of the good that God has already given unto me.
Parents are such creatures that may be able to hide faults from most everyone around them, but will never even be able to hide a minor shortcoming from their children. They are known by their children almost as much as their spouse knows them; for the child sees his parents in all their glory and in the depths of failure and defeat. How utterly impossible it is to raise children in righteousness when their authorities themselves fail to live perfectly righteous! This must be an impossibility if not for Christ our Lord.
It is a narrow idea of God that sees Him as such that does not experience pleasure, yet has this not been my view of Him so much of the time? It challenges my thinking to realize that God is indeed pleased when I obey my parents. Does this obedience not serve a dual purpose? For it not only unites both child and parent and espouses order in their lives, but it serves as a unique reminder of the relationship of every believer to his heavenly Father, who is the epitome of all perfection, loves us to the utmost, and would see us grasp all the riches that He has laid before us.
And thus I strive to obey my parents in all peace and humility so that I may bring pleasure to them and to my Father. For obedience is such that it confronts self at every turn and quickens my heart to recognize when I am living in such a way that focuses on me rather than on Christ. It is the ultimate test for a believer that takes advantage of his freedom or of one that gives of himself because of the advantage of his freedom. Which one will you and I be?
-Colossians 3.20
I do not know why God has chosen fit to have given me wonderful parents who love Him, love me, and are seeking after His righteousness present in their lives. However, this I must declare: that I am so very thankful for such parents. I will abound in thanksgiving all the more as I learn of the good that God has already given unto me.
Parents are such creatures that may be able to hide faults from most everyone around them, but will never even be able to hide a minor shortcoming from their children. They are known by their children almost as much as their spouse knows them; for the child sees his parents in all their glory and in the depths of failure and defeat. How utterly impossible it is to raise children in righteousness when their authorities themselves fail to live perfectly righteous! This must be an impossibility if not for Christ our Lord.
It is a narrow idea of God that sees Him as such that does not experience pleasure, yet has this not been my view of Him so much of the time? It challenges my thinking to realize that God is indeed pleased when I obey my parents. Does this obedience not serve a dual purpose? For it not only unites both child and parent and espouses order in their lives, but it serves as a unique reminder of the relationship of every believer to his heavenly Father, who is the epitome of all perfection, loves us to the utmost, and would see us grasp all the riches that He has laid before us.
And thus I strive to obey my parents in all peace and humility so that I may bring pleasure to them and to my Father. For obedience is such that it confronts self at every turn and quickens my heart to recognize when I am living in such a way that focuses on me rather than on Christ. It is the ultimate test for a believer that takes advantage of his freedom or of one that gives of himself because of the advantage of his freedom. Which one will you and I be?
1 comment:
Thanks, Dave! Tonight at church, a pastor shared about the reward of obedience. It was awesome! God simply asks us to obey Him. It is hard to remember that we are ultimately obeying Him in obeying our parents. Thanks for the reminder! See ya in a couple of days!
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