Self control in thinking. How do to it! Part 1
This whole week I have been posting about controlling our thoughts. Up until now, I have discussed the difficulties in doing so. I think we all understand that we need to. However, the problem is in doing so.
It is from the heart that a man’s thoughts originate. But in order to produce the same actions that God does, that heart needs to be facing in a certain direction or made of a certain caliber of material. Getting our hearts to be more in tune with God’s will is simple but it is not easy. It is simple because we simply need to learn more of him, spend more time with him, and get to know Him better. This will cause us to take on His characteristics.
I am sure we have witnessed this phenomenon in ourselves or in others. As we grew up, we may have wanted to be different from our fathers or mothers but as time goes on, we adopted their characteristics: their manners, laughs, phrases, gestures, etc. Even though there is plenty of room for a variety of unique qualities in our own life, still some minor and sometimes major qualities were passed to us by our parents through a variety a means: discipline, example, and simply spending time with them.
In the wilderness as God was revealed to Israel, there is an interesting passage that helps us understand why God did not take on a particular form.
“Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. (Deu 4:11-12)
“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. (Deu 4:15-18)
If you read that like I am reading it, you will conclude that God did not appear to them in some specific form because He knew that they would make an image to try to capture what He looked like. But what image does LOVE take on? God is love. In a sort of “I told you so” way, even when Jesus, God in the flesh, came to show us the Father and how He would live, we see numerous attempts to capture His image. I little doubt that the paintings and carvings bear no resemblance at all to his physical appearance but more importantly they do not capture His character.
So the simple part is to spend as much time with God as we do with our parents until His characteristics ‘grow on us’. Of course, as simple as that is, it is not easy with all of the things that are tugging on us, trying to pull us away, capture our imagination and entice us into a life that is more self-centered than God-centered.
One of the many passages that will help us to control our thinking comes from the book of Philippians.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. (Php 4:4-9)
I will note a couple of things in this passage today and finish tomorrow.
First, Paul says that the “peace of God” will guard your hearts and thoughts and then in the end says that the “God of peace” will be with us. Peace of God, God of peace, either way there will be peace and I would suggest it includes peace of mind.
Second, Paul says in both cases that if we do certain things we will have this gift and I want to talk about those tomorrow. However, in the mean time, read that passage again and see if you might be able to determine why the actions Paul tells us to have will result in a peace that will guard our hearts and minds.
Self control in thinking. How do to it! Part 1
This whole week I have been posting about controlling our thoughts. Up until now, I have discussed the difficulties in doing so. I think we all understand that we need to. However, the problem is in doing so.
It is from the heart that a man’s thoughts originate. But in order to produce the same actions that God does, that heart needs to be facing in a certain direction or made of a certain caliber of material. Getting our hearts to be more in tune with God’s will is simple but it is not easy. It is simple because we simply need to learn more of him, spend more time with him, and get to know Him better. This will cause us to take on His characteristics.
I am sure we have witnessed this phenomenon in ourselves or in others. As we grew up, we may have wanted to be different from our fathers or mothers but as time goes on, we adopted their characteristics: their manners, laughs, phrases, gestures, etc. Even though there is plenty of room for a variety of unique qualities in our own life, still some minor and sometimes major qualities were passed to us by our parents through a variety a means: discipline, example, and simply spending time with them.
In the wilderness as God was revealed to Israel, there is an interesting passage that helps us understand why God did not take on a particular form.
“Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. (Deu 4:11-12)
“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. (Deu 4:15-18)
If you read that like I am reading it, you will conclude that God did not appear to them in some specific form because He knew that they would make an image to try to capture what He looked like. But what image does LOVE take on? God is love. In a sort of “I told you so” way, even when Jesus, God in the flesh, came to show us the Father and how He would live, we see numerous attempts to capture His image. I little doubt that the paintings and carvings bear no resemblance at all to his physical appearance but more importantly they do not capture His character.
So the simple part is to spend as much time with God as we do with our parents until His characteristics ‘grow on us’. Of course, as simple as that is, it is not easy with all of the things that are tugging on us, trying to pull us away, capture our imagination and entice us into a life that is more self-centered than God-centered.
One of the many passages that will help us to control our thinking comes from the book of Philippians.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. (Php 4:4-9)
I will note a couple of things in this passage today and finish tomorrow.
First, Paul says that the “peace of God” will guard your hearts and thoughts and then in the end says that the “God of peace” will be with us. Peace of God, God of peace, either way there will be peace and I would suggest it includes peace of mind.
Second, Paul says in both cases that if we do certain things we will have this gift and I want to talk about those tomorrow. However, in the mean time, read that passage again and see if you might be able to determine why the actions Paul tells us to have will result in a peace that will guard our hearts and minds.
Self control in your thinking-part five
Well, I must admit as the week goes on and I write about controlling our thinking, a lot has come to mind. Sometimes it is hard to put into words what we want to say in one short post but these last several posts, have helped me feel more confident that if we can control our thinking, we are closer to living a more righteous life. That is, compared to just trying to live a righteous life while our thoughts run wild.
Today’s post will continue to look at things that try to captivate our thoughts and our imagination, things that will in some way lead us away from serving God which is, as Solomon put it, the whole duty of man. (Eccl 12:13) We have looked at our own desires as a pull away from God, we have looked at the tugging influence from others (Satan and so called friends) and even at the fearful thoughts as something that restrains us from doing as we ought. I would like to suggest that one last type of thought, which pulls us so easily away, is discontentment.
Ahab, who was not well known for serving God in the first place, serves as a good example of the problem of discontentment.
And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!” So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food. (1Ki 21:1-4)
Not satisfied with what he did have, he only looked at the convenience of Naboth’s vineyard. Maybe he had to ride in his chariot a little further to get to his own vineyards but rather than be content, he pouted. Then his wife Jezebel had Naboth killed and suddenly! all was right in the world, the sun was shining and the birds singing! What wickedness his discontentment led to.
Perhaps we do not act as extremely as Ahab and Jezebel did but discontentment will expresses itself in many ways. Let’s suppose that a spouse decides that the purchase of new clothes or a set of golf clubs would be a good idea. The purchase gets made without the knowledge of their mate. To sooth the conscience, the purchase is hidden for a few months. Then when pulled out and the mate observes “Oh, is that new?” The spouse is able to say: “Oh no….I have had this for a long time!”
“So wrong” on so many levels and yet we strive to justify things like this all the time. If you have to hide it from your spouse, it is an admission that you are more concerned about satisfying a selfish want then being honest and upfront. Your discontent with the clothes or clubs you already have, and the fever that results in a buying frenzy, leads you away from a path that God would have you on….and it all starts with your thoughts.
We forget the words of Paul:
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. (1Ti 6:6-8)
You never see a U-haul following a hearse! He who dies with the most toys….still dies!
Why was it that Jesus was able to resist the temptations of Satan in Matthew 4? It was because, at the heart of it, He was content with what God had provided to Him at that point. He didn’t need bread, though he surely wanted it. He didn’t need fame and honor and the kingdoms of the world, even though they soon would be His (as God has given them to Him). He didn’t feel dissatisfied, he knew God would take care of Him.
We need to realize that God will provide all we need and Matthew 6:25-34 makes that point very well. If God provides what we need, all we need to think about is how to please Him.
Self control in your thinking part four
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
(2Co 10:3-6)
It is the imaginations of the heart that we need to bring into captivity, the thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Whatever philosophy, practice, desire, plan, idolatry, pagan or Gnostic consideration, we need to bring it all under captivity and God gives us the tools and weapons to do so. Romans talks about those who refuse to have God in their knowledge, even though they knew God the did not honor Him as God and became futile in their thoughts, so God turned them over to their own imaginations and let them do what they wanted to. (see Romans 1:18ff) The flood resulted one time when man got so bad, but the world is reserved for fire this time around.
Man got so bad “that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. “ (Gen 6:5) Really, it doesn’t have to get that bad. Any thought or imagination that prevents God from being glorified in our life, that does not promote the Kingdom of God, that prevents or stops us from being zealous for good works, are thoughts and imaginations we need to bring under control.
Sometimes, fear tries to capture our thoughts. I am sure that you know the acronym for fear. F.E.A.R. False Expectations Appearing Real!. Mark Twain said something like this: 98% of everything I have been afraid would happen, never happened” And so it is in my life and I am certain in yours as well. However, I know I have put a lot of worry and concerns to events in the past and many, if not most, of them never materialized.
Jesus told the parable of the talents and introduced the three servants with these words:
And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. (Mat 25:15)
Then when the last one came to give an account.
“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ (Mat 25:24-25)
Notice that this last servant was “afraid” and in his fear, he did nothing. NOTHING! He didn’t even put it in a bank account and let it earn interest. If you read the next verse, you will probably get the impression, as I do that the Master would not have been upset if he had done only that. Even at a meager .25% interest, it would have grown something. Still, the Master had given a responsibility according to his ability. It was FEAR that kept him from doing what he could with the little the Master had given him.
Fear can be conquered by certainty. Two examples (though there are many more) from the Scriptures:
Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego, Daniel’s three friends were put in a situation in which they had to choose to serve God or man. Told that they needed to bow down to an idol that the King had set up, they refused. This did not set well with the King and in his anger, he brought them before him and gave them a 2nd chance. Their answer shows their certainty:
”O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Dan 3:16-18)
The confidence and love of God allowed them to respond, not in a spirit of insubordination but simply stating the facts that God comes first.
Moses also was not afraid.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. (Heb 11:27)
A true love of God casts out fear. When we have our eyes focused on the goal and know that this life is temporary, we can then use our life to serve God better. When we have no fear of death, we are able to let go of other fears more easily and put our lives and plans into God’s hands.
My dear friends and readers. Fear not! Be careful, little mind, what you think.
Self control in your thinking part 3
It is certainly true that what we focus our thinking energy on is the thing that is most likely to produce results. Have you ever had someone tell you “Don’t strike out”, “Don’t drop the ball”, “Don’t think about pink elephants crossing the San Francisco bridge”? Well, what are you thinking about right now?
However, when it comes to controlling thinking, it is not enough to simply say “don’t think about this” or “do think about that”. It is not just the thought. However, when you take that thought and allow it to capture your imagination, then you have something that, with focus, is going to yield results for either good or bad.
After the flood, Noah’s descendants decided to build a tower that would reach to the Heavens. They were wanting to build a name for themselves. To build a legacy! Sounds familiar. However, it is what God said about this plan of theirs that is of the most interest:
And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. (Gen 11:6)
Nor should it be impossible really, we are, after all, created in God’s image! The same race that wanted to build the tower of Babel, built a bridge to span the Golden Gate bay (Why? so those pink elephants that you are thinking about could cross it!), sent a man to the moon and has harnessed the power of that atom. Man has accomplished so much and is capable of accomplishing so much. What captures the imagination of our thoughts, controls us!
If we could only be captured by the good of doing the Lord’s will rather than the short sightedness of doing our own!
This is why Solomon warns his son of two things that will capture an imagination quickly: ill-gotten gain and a seducing woman. In the first chapter, he says:
My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse“– my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. (Pro 1:10-19)
These are the ones who promise riches from nothing, gain from taking advantage of others. Such is the way of those who are greedy for unjust gain. We all know that it will not always catch up with you in this life but God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. (Gal 6:7) Then he says:
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. (Pro 6:23-26)
Notice he talks about ‘desiring in the heart’ and being “capture(d) with her eyelashes”. Indeed, that which captures the imagination, controls the person.
Of course, there are other things that capture our imagination and lead us away from service to God. Whether it is fame, fortune, women, wine or song, when you give into to those desires and dwell upon them in your mind, you will surely take a path that will lead you away from God. The first Psalm will do nicely to help remind us that the actions of a righteous man are good because of what he uses his mind to think about.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
(Psa 1:1-3)
Would you not rather delight in the law of the Lord? Meditate and think about His law instead of the worthless vain things this world offers? Find yourself being captured and captivated about going to Heaven and living with God? To long for that life which follows this one? Let us all try to say with Paul:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
(Php 1:21-23)
Self Control in your thinking Part two
Yesterday’s blog began the discussion of controlling our thoughts. God is quite able to judge our thoughts and intents even if we ourselves mess things up so much we cannot even fully figure out our motive. I don’t suppose that anyone who is more than 15 years old does not know the anguish of calling into question their own motives. At the end of the blog we introduced a passage from Mark.
And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
(Mar 7:20-23)
Truly, we need to realize that the thoughts we have come from within our own selves. It is not that sometimes there are not influences that work on us (and Satan is a master at that) but the desires and wants are there to begin with and so it is within our own thinking that we have to begin the process of self-control. When James chastises his audience in chapter 4, he says:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? (Jas 4:1)
Esther was warned not to think in a certain way as she pondered the need to risk her life by visiting the king:
Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. (Est 4:13)
It is from the heart that these thoughts proceed, whether for good or bad, we generate them ourselves and as such need to be careful as to what we think. We might even find ourselves thinking thoughts that God, himself, had never thought:
Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind– (Jer 19:4-5)
It should not surprise us then to know that God chooses by what is in the heart of man. As Samuel was sent to anoint one of Jesse’s sons the next king, he looked on the outside but God looked on the inside.
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
(1Sa 16:6-7)
Today God also seeks those with the right heart, a heart like David’s who was chosen to be King. It isn’t that David was perfect, but his character was such that he was able to do God’s will in his lifetime and promote God’s kingdom. Jesus told the Samaritan woman:
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Joh 4:23-24)
Among the many lessons we can glean from this verse, one is that God wants people who will serve Him from the heart (spirit) and in the way God wants (truth).
What we focus on is what we will wind up doing. The person who has a heart of God is going to wind up doing the things God wants, not the things that they would otherwise do if left to their own devices. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will look more at the idea of outside influences on our thoughts but to close up today, let me just remind everyone to think on those things that are God like. Yes, Paul did write Phil 4:8 to think about those things that are true and honorable, etc. We will discuss that later
But answer this question: What does God want us to focus on with our thoughts? Why is it important to think on the good things? What do Christians really think about?
Again: Be careful little mind what you think!
Self control in your thinking
This Sunday’s lessons dealt with the quality of self-control, specifically self-control in our thinking process. We normally think of self-control as being something we do in our words or actions but the best place to exercise our self-control is in our thoughts before they turn into words or actions.
Ideas are important and they even have substance. Perhaps I make too big a deal of it but since an idea is a “noun”, that is a subject, something that exists, at least in theory then they have weight. We can’t say that any idea by itself is without the potential to be used for good or bad.
In our journey through life, as a Christian, we should be aiming to get back to where we were before our life was corrupted by sin. Granted, we will not arrive there until we reach Eternity’s shore but the aim and journey of trying to become more like God and make our nature more like God’s is still what we should be doing. Of course, God is pretty clear that our thoughts are not His thoughts…
“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. (Isa 55:6-8)
That our thoughts are not God’s does not mean that they cannot be. That we need to forsake our thoughts I think argues for the fact that God wants us to think more like him, develop the heart that He has and let our character be more like His Holy character. The question is: Will we be more like David who said: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! (Psa 139:23) or more like Adam who said: “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Gen 3:10)?
We can’t really hide from God and our thoughts are well-known to him:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Heb 4:12-13)
Even to the point of discerning thoughts and intentions!! Those pesky motives that we sometimes forget about or that we allow to confuse even ourselves. Our thoughts do matter. Take for example what Jesus said in Matthew 5
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. (Mat 5:21-22)
It seems that His audience had heard something similar to what we have heard: If I don’t actually kill the guy, it is ok if I hate him. Jesus is not stating a higher law in these verses but rather restoring the laws Moses wrote back to the place where they should be. He is letting the people know that the traditions and teachings of the Rabbi’s missed the heart of the Law.
“And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. (Deu 19:4-6)
Read all of Dt 19 to get the fuller picture but basically, if you killed someone by accident, you could be found not guilty and not subject to the vengeance of the avenger of blood. However, we cannot miss that this guilt or innocence rests on a key phrase “since he had not hated the victim in the time past.” No grudges, no animosity, no doubt that he had not set a trap, no hate. the idea of ‘in time past’ goes back three days and some versions so translate it.
We cannot allow hate to control our lives, or lusts, or covetousness or any such thing and these ideas come from the heart.
And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mar 7:20-23)
I will continue discussing this in the next few blogs and expounding on the lessons presented today. As I have opportunity, I will link to them when I get them loaded. Until then, like the song we teach our children: Be careful little mind what you think!
Jesus view of Authority, the Parents role
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. (Luk 2:51)
Jesus had no problem submitting to his parents. That is the way it is supposed to be. Can you even imagine the Messiah saying “do as I say and not as I do?”. He kept the law perfectly and part of that law was to:
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.(Exo 20:12)
Yes, Parents do not always get it right, they are imperfect. They chastise us to the best of their ability but they do not always do so as they should. Parents make mistakes.
For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (Heb 12:10)
Here we have the goal for ALL discipline…that we may share in His Holiness. God does it all well, Parents do as seems best. Still, Parents are in charge of their children and need to accept that responsibility.
In regards to Authority, Parents have been given this from God.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Eph 6:4)
But what parents are to do is a very interesting task. They are to discipline the child, bring up the child so that that child has the proper view of the Lord. It is my opinion that parents are like “God” to their children, much like Moses was like “God” to Pharoah (Ex 7). Parents are the first authority in the child’s life, the first to set boundaries, give warnings and teach the child whatever it is they want them to learn.
Parents are the one to first say “No” to the child, to set boundaries and expectations. They are also the first to share about the Lord and this is important! If the parent sets the Authority of parental control within themselves, it will over time fail. If the child obeys because the parent is bigger than they are, that will not be enough in many cases to control the child later on. However, if the parent shares that God is the Authority then there is something even bigger than the parent which the child learns to respect.
“You obey me because that is what God wants and I obey God” the parent says. “One day you will have freedom to choose and I want you to obey God too.”
The role parents have in the life of a child, first and foremost, should be instilling a love of God in their lives.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD 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. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deu 6:4-9)
However, that cannot be done if you do not have that love of God in your life. Telling the child “you obey me because God want you to, but I will not obey God because I….(fill in the reason here)…” will only teach the child that it is ok to disobey God when you get to be old enough. so about the time you can choose to stay up late and eat ice cream for breakfast (whether you do or not) is about the time you will be able to stop obeying God like your parents. Part of what God said in that passage above applies to how the Parent lives.
The other part is what God wants parents to focus on. Parents who want their children to learn about God need to be sure that they put God first in their life and then teach children to do the same. A 4.8 grade point average will not get a child into Heaven. Being a Rhode scholar or good in business will not either. It is not that school and education is not important but there is one thing truly more important than good grades. It is not a choice between an education and learning about God but if that were the choice, truly the choice, then choose God.
Authority needs to be honored and it is honored best when one responds to the ultimate Authority as Jesus did.
