Scripture

Our verse for today comes from 1 Peter 1:14, “As obedient children, do not conform to the lusts you had when you lived in ignorance.”

Background

Obedient children. Sometimes as parents, our strongest desire is just for our kids to listen to us, isn’t it? The image plays out in our minds, how peaceful and enjoyable our lives would be, both ours and the kids, if they would just listen to us. And it’s not like we’re asking them to split the atom or save the world. We just want some simple cooperation regarding the normal requests we make of them. Age appropriate requests, like ones that involve their toys or the dinner table or the treatment of their siblings. Maybe we have a few demands pertaining to their clothes and entertainment choices and completing their schoolwork. Common, rational expectations that any ordinary parent would have of their child. But they’re not obedient, are they? And oddly enough, neither were we. I remember sneaking things as a kid, concealing things from my parents, treating others however I liked, regardless of the punishments I may have received for the same misdeeds previously. I presume you had your own bag of tricks that you thought your parents were oblivious to. Children and obedience seem to be anything but compatible.

Application

And perhaps our firsthand experiences make it challenging to grasp Peter’s command to be obedient children. We’ve failed to see it lived out in our lives and the lives of our own children on a regular basis, so how do we just do what he says as if we’ve always lived in a world where the children obey? What is there that helps us make sense amidst all the disobedience? The difference is in what we know. As kids, the world is completely foreign to them. They are ignorant of almost everything beyond what they can see or hear. What someone else says or does is the gospel, especially if it’s packaged just right. But we adults acknowledge that they are operating from a flawed viewpoint. They do not have all the information they need, not even a fraction of it. But in Christ we do. In His Word we do. No longer ignorant, we can be obedient. Our former ways should be just that – former. You can now be the child you never were.

Charge

As we seek Him today, ask God to give you a heart that longs to listen and obey Him. Resist the call to do what you used to do, and leave your former ways in the past.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words