Read Colossians 3:18—4:1
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the
Lord.
Colossians 3:20
John H. Starkey was a violent British criminal. He murdered his own
wife, then was convicted for the crime and executed. The officials
asked General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, to conduct Starkey’s funeral. Booth faced as ugly and mean a crowd as he
had ever seen in his life, but his first words stopped them and held
their attention: “John H. Starkey never had a praying mother!”
Children have rights, but they also have responsibilities; and their
foremost responsibility is to obey. They are to obey “in everything”
and not simply in those things that please themselves. Will their parents ever ask them to do something that is wrong? Not if the parents
are submitted to the Lord and to each other.
Children who do not learn to obey their parents are not likely
to grow up obeying any authority. They will defy their teachers, the
police, their employers, and anyone else who tries to exercise authority over them. The breakdown in authority in our society reflects the
breakdown of authority in the home.
Something to Ponder
How is children’s obedience to parents significant in regard to their
eventual obedience to God?