Obedience: April 29, 2011

APRIL 29, 2011. TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY APRIL 29, 2011

OBEDIENCE

DEFINITION:

Being submissive to authority and willing to obey; compliance to orders or instructions.

SCRIPTURE:

“He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:8

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The verse from Proverbs (above) gives parents no option but to train their children in being obedient. It clearly states in this verse that we as parents must train our children in the ways of the Lord so that they will not depart from what they learned in this training when they get older.

Someone might challenge us when we say that parents have no option. Realistically a parent does have an option but if they want their child to live a God honoring and God fearing life, they have no option.

We can assure you from our experience that training our children in the way of the Lord does work. But as we have stated before, children learn obedience and so many other traits in life not just by the teaching they receive but also by what their teachers (parents) do and say. In other words we need to walk and talk as honoring to God or the teaching can become meaningless.

The first reference to obedience that we find in the Bible is the lack of obedience by Adam and Eve. They were told not to eat of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil --- for in the day that you eat of it you surely shall die.” Satan, in the form of the serpent, tempted Adam and Eve and they gave in to the temptation and were not obedient.

Then in Geneses 12:1-4, we are told of the obedience of Abraham. The Lord said to Abraham to get out of his country and from his father’s house and family. God told him that if he obeyed He would make him a great nation and would bless him and make his name great and that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him. God also promised Abraham if he left his country that He would bless those that blessed him and curse them that cursed him. Abraham’s response was immediate and total obedience without compromise to the call of God.

Here are two examples for us to learn from today. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God we are all sinners and must pay the penalty for our sins. Because Abraham obeyed God he was blessed with not only a son in his old age but a great nation --- Israel.

It was to the nation of Israel that God chose to send His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus was sent into the world to pay the penalty for all the sins of everyone in the world fulfilling God’s promise that all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham.

What a contrast! The disobedience of Adam and Eve brought condemnation to all. The obedience of Abraham brought salvation to all. Disobedience brings consequences and obedience brings blessings and both disobedience and obedience affects others. Have you ever thought about how you act and what you do affects others?

Studies now show us that obedience is healthful. A famed children’s specialist was quoted as saying, “When it comes to a serious illness, the child who has been taught to obey stands four times the chance of recovery then the spoiled and undisciplined child does.”

Jesus was an example to us concerning obedience. In the verse from Philippians (above), we read how Jesus was obedient to God even to His dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

When we obey God’s Word, we find that life is so much richer in ways we may not have expected. But most important is our response to the question: “Are we obedient to the will of our Heavenly Father?”

In order for Abraham to be obedient to God’s will he had to be willing to give up what was dear to him. He had to walk away from his home and his friends. He had to step out of his comfort zone to receive greater blessings from God. Being obedient to God’s will may require that you have to make difficult changes in your life. Some day we will give an accounting of all we have done. What will your report be?

Teaching obedience to our children is difficult, to say the least. We must always remember that we are born with a sinful nature into a sinful world because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. When a parent says “NO” many things happen in the mind of a child. The child may be testing the parent to see if you will go further. What a child is doing is seeing really where his or her boundaries are and how far they may be stretched. A child also is watching for consistency and wants to know if the “No” is really a “No” or whether the parent will weaken and change his or her mind.

Parents also have a lot to learn about obedience in their own lives. Are you consistent with what you are doing in front of your children, spouse and family? When an adult talks about obedience through words or actions, everyone is watching for honesty, consistency and seriousness.

Disobedience is evident everywhere in our world today. Think about how often you see the traffic laws disobeyed. Lawmakers and government officials cheat on paying their taxes. People just try to get away with whatever they can. Disobedience is evident in the work place. People cheat on their jobs by doing as little as possible. Standards of obedience are established at home and it is the responsibility of parents to set them and enforce them.

Children will not learn obedience in school or from their peers. Most often what they will learn from their peers will be disobedience. It takes a strong backbone for a child to withstand peer pressure in today’s world. The backbone we are talking about comes from a solid foundation of family values taught at home based on the Ten Commandments and the Bible.

Obedience needs to be an important standard in our lives and one we evaluate daily.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse this week is found in Hebrews 13:8.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

PRAYER:

Thank You dear Lord that You were obedient to Your Father and came to the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. Help me to be obedient to You this day in all of my words and deeds. Help me to teach obedience to my children. May they learn first to be obedient to You and then to their family and those in authority. Give me the strength to serve You today in all that I do.