Obedience

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Romans 6:16

Raising young children, obedience is frequently on my mind. I expect my children to obey; it is my job to cultivate their obedience. Is it so I can feel powerful and control them? No, it is for their safety, for their freedom, for their character development. In short, for their good and our family's good and for the good of those around us.

Obedience for safety: Hold my hand while crossing the street, use a car seat, stop when I say stop.

Obedience for freedom: If they can be trusted to obey what I tell them, then they will have increasing freedoms. Crossing the street alone, being in charge of their own safety gear, using appliances and other items unsupervised. If they can't be trusted to obey when I'm present, I can't trust them to obey when I'm not, and I will be saying no to many more of their requests than I would if I knew I could trust them.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

Luke 16:10

Obedience for character development: As they obey and experience the results of that obedience, they learn how to make good decisions and become healthy adults who bless those around them.

Obedience for our family's good: Sometimes we ask them to obey to make things easier for everyone. When we fly home at Christmas, we have a very short layover between flights. If we're going to make our second flight, the children need to be very obedient- use the bathroom when we tell them, stay close, etc. The whole family would pay the price of one person's disobedience.

Why does God ask us to obey Him? For the same reasons! So we can live in safety and freedom and eventually join Him in Heaven. Also for the good of our fellow (wo)man.

Romans 6:16 tells us that we are always slaves to something. We can choose to be a slave to sin, or we can choose to be a slave to obedience. It can feel so much harder and painful to be obedient to God's commands and promptings, but the results of the obedience are so worth it! One path leads to death- separation from God, who is Love, Truth, Light. The other path leads to righteousness- to God, to Heaven, to eternal life. That is what I want, and what I want for my children!