"Children, be obedient to your parents in all things. "
Colossians 3:20
DOING WHAT MAMA SAID
Read It: Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:3 by should you teach your kids to obey and honor you, other authorities in their lives, and God Himself? That's a very good question, tion, and the Bible has some even better answers. First, "because it is right" (Ephesians 6:1). Do you want what's right for your kids? I sure hope so. God says, "I'm not telling you something wrong. When you teach your children according to My ways, it pleases Me. And when I am pleased, I will bless you." Since God Himself is the standard of what's right, it's right to teach our children His ways because He commands us to do it. Second, there's a promise attached to this. Now of course Paul is going back to Exodus 20 where the Ten Commandments were given. Read the list, and you'll see that the first four commandments deal with our relationship tionship to God: "Don't have any other gods before Me. Don't make any graven image," and so on. Then, the fifth commandment becomes a transition commandment because it doesn't deal with God, but with family:
"Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12). Then the promise is stated, and the rest of the commandments deal with personal relationships. Why did God make a special promise to children who obeyed their parents? ents? The reason, I think, is this: God knew that the children in a home would become the fiber in society. If respect for authority, if reverence and honor, did not start in the home, it would never get to the street. And if it never hit the street, it would never hit the community. And if it didn't hit the community, it wouldn't touch the city. And if didn't touch the city, it would never move on to the state. You get the idea. Eventually a whole country undergoes a collapse that started because some kid didn't want to do what mama said. Now we don't look at it that way. That's because we are like the frogs in the pot, not knowing the water is slowly being brought to a boil under us. We say, "Well, one kid not obeying his parents ain't going to bring down the United States of America." Maybe, but try fifteen or twenty million! Think About It You want to change the world? Teach your child the ways of the Lord.
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