I hope you had a great Christmas and wonderful start to your new year! It has been a few weeks since we have spent some time in the Book of Colossians. If you remember, we were in the practical section dealing with the family unit. First we dealt with the wife’s role – putting herself under the husband’s leadership. Secondly, we looked at the husband’s responsibility – loving his wife unconditionally. Now, we move to the children’s role in the household. Let’s read Colossians 3:20 “Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.” If you are a parent, go ahead and read that again :). Now, I would imagine that most of you reading this devotion are not children. However, we were all children at one time! How well did you live out this verse growing up? Maybe God has you reading this devotion today to communicate to you that you may need to go sit down with your parents and say you are sorry for those times you fell short. Enough of that, let’s get back to our children :).
The text commands children to obey their parents in all things (Of course, if parents are commanding something that is contradictory to the Word of God, children are released from this command). Notice, we again see a specific order in the family unit that God has put together. Children are supposed to put themselves under the parents’ leadership. Why should children do this? Look how verse 22 ends “for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.” When children place themselves under the parent’s authority, it brings honor to God! Question: “Is it hard for children to always put themselves under their parent’s leadership?” Well, is it hard to always put yourself under your husband’s leadership? Is it hard for you to love your wife as Christ loves the church? Naturally, children are going through all kinds of changes in their bodies and emotions, so it can be very difficult – especially in the teenage years! So, how can they live this command out practically? The same way we can – Christ in our children, the hope of glory! They must seek things above and not things of the earth. They must take off their “old clothes” and put on their “new clothes”. If our children are believers in Jesus Christ, the same Spirit that indwells us is in them! Hence, it is very important for us to be leading them unto the Lord! This makes me think of one of my favorite passages in Scripture found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9,
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
We, as parents, have a tremendous responsibility! Look at the next verse in Colossians “Fathers, do not exasperate (provoke or irritate) your children, so that they will not lose heart (become discouraged).” This verse really hits home for me. About 5 years ago, I was expecting too much from my children. When they didn’t respond in the way I thought they should respond, I was hard on them – I was exasperating my children. They were becoming discouraged, and it was affecting our relationship. My wife sat me down and spoke some hard truth to me. It convicted me to my core! I repented and changed the way that I responded to them when they didn’t meet my expectations. And you know what? My relationship with them changed drastically. Do I still mess up at times? Sure – but for the most part I don’t provoke them to lose heart. But I cannot do this in my own power. My relationship with Christ must be moment by moment or I will fall back to my old ways (put on my old clothes). Notice, Paul pinpointed this command to fathers! This is no accident. Parents – rather than provoking our children, let’s live out the verses in Deuteronomy I quoted earlier. May God’s Word penetrate and dwell in our hearts and may we always be diligent in teaching His Word to our children. See you next week!