I love talking circles in my head about the concept of freewill. If we have freewill, but God had our lives planned out before we were created, do we really? Questions like that are fun discussions with my friends but they really end at the same place they started. I don’t know. I do believe we have the freedom to choose whichever lifestyle we please, and every single choice we make is solely our own. But the key to being happy is finding what God would have us choose.
Ephesians 6:1-9 talks about the relationship between children and parents as well as the relationship between slaves and masters. Pay special attention to the difference in the commands for children and slaves. Children are asked to HONOR their father and mother while slaves are told to OBEY their masters. Which one of those things is harder to do?
Honor means to regard with respect. Obey means to do what you are told. I do not know about you, but just being told what to do is much easier than making a decision on my own that honors the one who gave me the right to make the decision. So many times we just want an answer, something clear cut that screams “GO DO THIS MY CHILD, ITS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO” because that would be easier than spending time loving and respecting our Father enough to know what will disappoint him and what will really make him proud.
Children are also told to obey their parents, because honor does not come naturally. I had to learn to obey my parents before I could honor them because I had to find out what they valued and what they thought to be trivial or ignorant. Honor is not something that happens immediately, it has to be developed through relationship and struggle. I did a lot of disobedient and stupid things when I was a little kid, but when I became a teenager, the mood shifted from disobedient to dishonor.
Our Middle Eastern and Eastern brethren have a much clearer idea of honor and shame than we do in America, and I think it would do us all well to learn something from them. Honor is paired with long-life (see Deuteronomy 5:16), especially to those who honor their father and mother.
My dad does not tell me what to wear every day, he didn’t tell me where to go to college, what sports to play (or not play), what girls to date (or run screaming away from), etc. because he gave me the freewill to do so. I am very grateful that I had my dad as the first glimpse of what God looked like and that he treated me like God would treat a son. It may be harder to be a son, but it is well worth the struggle and reward for pleasing my Father in Heaven.
Take this with you. You are a son or daughter of Christ. If you’re still new and learning, then obey God with all your heart. Do what he wants and find out what makes him click so you may honor him. If you know what honors your Father and what shames him, live accordingly in a way that honors him. And most importantly, if you have a son or daughter, remember this: You are their first perception of God. They worship you from the very beginning because you gave them life. Make sure your lives are pointing to the Father and your standards of honor and shame match up with His.
No comments:
Post a Comment