Life is exciting around a small child. School is always in session – sometimes for the child, and sometimes for the parents and grandparents! Children consider no question too silly to ask. Hector Bernasconi of Kingston, Canada reminds us that a child’s brain is full to the brim with questions just waiting to be asked and answered. He wrote: “Our six-year-old daughter, Terra, has a need to ask questions ... lots of questions. Finally, one day, my wife had had it. ‘Have you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?’ my wife asked. ‘No,’ replied Terra. ‘Well, there was a cat, and he was very inquisitive. And one day, he looked into a big hole, fell in, and died!” my wife told her. Terra was intrigued: ‘What was in the hole?’” (Reader’s Digest, 4/11, p 61). Like I said at the top — school is always in session, and often it is the parents who learn from the children! No wonder, then, that our parents seem to grow wiser as we get older! This is a truth all young people need to learn. Under normal circumstances, in a home that operates the way common sense and Scriptural wisdom tells it is ought to, difficult as it is for some young people to believe, parents are smarter than their children! At least when it comes to things that you can learn only from the school of hard knocks and long experience at living. And if your parents are sincere and especially if they are devoted Christians, trained in the ways of God, they will give their children the very best advice and counsel and guidance they could possibly receive, even when you may not disagree with them. That’s why the Bible has this direct word for children: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1).
There’s the four-letter word God wants your child, yea, every child to learn – “OBEY.” Especially your parents. Why? Because God said, “This is right.” It’s just the way it’s supposed to be. It is not right and it’s not good and it’s not healthy for kids or parents or families or schools or societies when children are allowed to disregard authority. Children should obey parents because it is right to do so. It is right to do so because this directive has been revealed by God — “Honor your father and your mother” is the very centerpiece of what we know as the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:12 & * Deuteronomy 5:16). It is noteworthy that when Moses cane down from Sinai with two tablets of stone containing ten fundamental commands for the physical and spiritual safety,
security and well-being of Israelite society, smack dab in the middle of the list was the command to honor your father and mother! This is a central part of God’s Old Testament revelation to mankind, reiterated a number of times in the New Testament. The long and short of it is you really don’t respect God if you don’t respect your parents. Children need to remember — when you obey your parents, you please not only them, but you also please the Lord. A woman from Georgia named Marguerite Provost told about her three-year-old granddaughter, Beverly, who was playing with her toys. Her mother was folding laundry across the room and noticed Beverly’s shirt was dirty and needed to be changed. After calling twice with no response, her mother gave the full three-name call: Beverly Elizabeth Provost, did you hear me?” Beverly answered, “Yes, Mama. My ears heard you, but my legs didn’t.” Parents need to teach, and children need to learn the four-letter word God wants every child to know — “OBEY.” It’s still the right thing to do.
Dan Gulley, Smithville TN
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