Tuesday, August 01, 2006

But every teenager does it????

Romans 1:28-32
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.


I have decided to try and be an adult and actually read and study Romans on my own. I’ve always left that one to the professionals, b/c it was so full of doctrine and “hard stuff” that I figured I should just NOT attempt it without ‘adult supervision”…hmm….I’m guessing that’s just one of my many excuses J

So…today…August 1st, I started out with Romans 1 for my morning time with the Lord…and I got smacked! If you look above through verses 28-32, it lists just a wretched list of sins…murder, God-haters, slanderers…every KIND of wickedness. And then just right smack in the middle….they disobey their parents.

Whoa…wait a minute…disobeying your parents is just a rite of passage for a teenager..right? I mean come on…EVERYONE DISOBEYS their parents. But you know what…Paul put it in this list for a reason. And that reason still affects me today...Let me explain! ( I would be quirky and put in the funny quote from Princess Bride, but we all know I can't SUM UP very well...so here comes the brief novel!)

Why is it so important to obey our parents? Well, first, b/c God commands us to, and that is our ultimate, absolute authority. But another great reason is b/c it is great training for later in our life. When I was a child/teen I obeyed my father or else…he was not a mean man, he didn’t beat me or anything, but I got punished. And it was just known that I should obey, and do it quickly. Unfortunately with my mother, I was not as “angelic”. I got away with smart-mouthing my mom often. And then even when she would throw out the “dad card”, I might obey, but I certainly grumbled and did it with malice in my heart. I don’t think I learned to truly obey my parents JOYFULLY! And I was technically a “good kid”!

Ok…so you’re thinking, “so what Kelly…everyone does that”. Well, I think it affected me later in life. What I don’t think I learned was to JOYFULLY obey my mother even when I disagreed. I learned to obey to avoid certain punishments…and only when those punishments were threatened and followed through on. And at times, through my parents, I learned that it was ok to REVOLT against such authority. For instance when the umpire blew the call in a softball game, my dad was known to get VERY angry. Probably not a great example for me! So now, at age 23, I hit the real world, and I have a job at an investment firm. The job gets boring and I get frustrated…and I start to get haughty. My boss tries to warn me, but what does she know…this company would be lost without me…I’m key…

And like that…I was gone! I had similar situations at other companies…some initiated by bad bosses I will admit, but I sealed the deal—my own sin was greatly to blame instead of poor leadership. And its now 12 years later, and I think I am just truly learning my lesson. I have been in the same job for 4 years, and there are times when I truly want to scream at someone…but God has been patient and has been working in my heart. For that I am SOOO thankful!

So why is it so important to OBEY OUR PARENTS…b/c your whole life you will be under someone’s authority…your church’s, your boss’s, your husband’s, the volunteer organization that you work for…GOD….someone is always going to be higher up then you…and there are going to be times that just doing what is asked of you seems insane. Your boss will ask you to do something that seems beneath you, or may even seem to be idiotic. Your husband will ask something of you, that you will need to submit to, even tho it seems ridiculous or unfair. An organization will require something of you that just doesn’t make sense. And while you are an adult and are allowed to respectfully ask questions and maybe make your point, there are going to be times where you just have to SUBMIT…and do it with JOY!!!

Those Christians who have a hard time joyfully doing that…whether it is to your parents now, your boss, the umpire who blew the call, the teacher who didn’t see everything that happened….whatever the circumstance may be…this disobedience to authority is sinful and wicked!! And if you don’t break the pattern and acknowledge it now, it WILL have consequences in your life later on!
And Paul goes one step further to say, even those that approve of this kind of behavior….so maybe you submit joyfully to your parents all of the time (yeah right)…but you laugh when your friend talks about ignoring her parents rules, or you even help them sneak around those rules. Once again this is sin…and it is listed in with the attributes of men that will NOT see the kingdom of heaven. So, how are you going to obey your parents today…the teacher you can’t stand…the umpire who is clueless…the youth leader who drives you batty and is even wrong sometimes! (ah em)…. Just something to think about !
disclaimer: Just so there is NO confusion, I love my parents very much and am so thankful that I was brought up under God's word. In no way is anything in this post intended to say anything otherwise. Phew...just wanted to make that clear!

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