As teenagers grow we seem to adapt a sort of “self required independence;” as a teen myself I can attest to this fact. Yet we still want the comforts and securities that come with being in a loving family. It is true that we are allowed some type of independence, but not to the point of disrespecting and dishonoring our parents.
For some adolescents the prospect of being “on my own” beckons to the inner most nature that establishes itself early in the child's development, rearing its head in many different forms and fashions. Such things as not completing our chores, arguing over petty differences, and not paying attention when a superior (whether an elderly person or a parent) is speaking to us, these are just some of the many ways in which we show forth our premature push for independence. The question, however, is not necessarily how the rebellion will show itself, but why does it show at all? Is there a definite reason for such distinctive behavior? To the world of psychology, there are many “so-called” answers, so many in fact that you could fill a library with just the theories surrounding this question. But for a Christian, we need not the exhaustive research that these scientists have spent. We need not spend hours on end compiling and describing our own theories; we need only go to our final authority on every subject know to man: the Holy, ordained, inspired, inerrant, Word of God: The Holy Bible, King James Version.
According to the Word of God, man is evil continually from his youth (Gen. 6:5, 8:21), so naturally children and teens are going to be rebellious to any type of authority. That is why in the law of Moses, God commanded: “Honor thy father and mother . . .” (Ex. 20:12). God knows that man is continually rebelling, so he commanded that we honor authority. Why?
The reason is very simple. If we do not honor our earthly fathers, how can we honor our heavenly father? Even the apostle Paul spoke on this subject. In Colossians 3:20 he declares: “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord,.” and again in Ephesians 6:1-4: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” It is this time in a child's life that he or she is trained to honor God as the absolute power. If we do not esteem the word of our earthly parents higher then our own, then as God begins taking us deeper in the spiritual knowledge of the mystery of godliness we will not put His words ahead of our own thoughts. In doing this, we would place our own wants and desires before those of the Lord Jesus Christ and would be establishing ourselves as a god; and God demands that we “. . . have no other gods before me” (Exo. 20:3).
It is also important to note here that God, through the apostle Paul, says “obey your parents in the Lord;” if your parents instruct you to commit a sin then they would not be in the Lord. The sin you would commit would be imputed unto you and also upon the heads of them that instructed you to do it. God has many commands to the children that they obey their parents, but He also has as many or more to the parents commanding them to raise their children “. . . in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”(Eph. 6:4).
So then, we find that if we (children) do not obey, honor, and respect our parents, we are in disobedience to the commands of the Lord God Almighty, and in rebellion to his Word. Remember also, “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” (I Sam. 15:23). God hates rebellion, He will not allow it in the kingdom of heaven: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). |
