Obeying Your Father

When a young child does something wrong, his father will say ‘no’ or hit their hand to show them that they should not do it again, because it is wrong. As the child grows, they learn right from wrong, among other things. Most of the instruction a child receives can be credited to their father and mother. This is nothing unusual, except when it comes to worshiping God and obeying his will. It seems that people simply do not care. They act like a teenager when their Heavenly Father gives them a task. They do it the way they want and not the way their father would want them to. Or they simply ignore what He has commanded, and pay no attention to it. 

For example, if a child’s father tells him to clean and organize his room, his father gives him very plain and simple instructions on how he wants it to be done. If it’s not done how he wants, the child doesn't get to do something they want to later on that day as a punishment. What if the child says “okay, I can get around this, I know dad told me to put my clothes in my closet, but what if I put them under my bed instead, and act like I did as I was told?” The child might think his father will never find out, and that he has fooled him, and goes on as if nothing is wrong. When the child’s father discovered what his child had done, when the child asked to go do something fun, he said ‘no’. The child might ask “why? my room was clean!” Then his father will say “I know you threw your clothes under your bed and didn’t put them in your closet.” The child’s face turns red as he realizes he was caught in a lie. He lied to his father and disobeyed his will. 

In Ephesians 6:1-3 it says,“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” What if we looked at this from the perspective of a child of God? That makes it seem a little unsettling for some of us. God is like the father in the example and we are the child. Yes, we are not perfect and we will sin, but we also have plain and simple instructions. When we ignore those instructions and do things our own way, this disappoints Him and even angers Him. Therefore we need to try our best to walk in faith and keep His will. If we do this, we will be the very best versions of Christians we can be.

- Bro. Nick Reppert