PT-4 "The Submission of Children" (Eph. 6:1-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/8/2019 8:29 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-4 “The Submission of Children”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth’” (NKJV).

 

            We continue to talk about children and their parents in this SD, noting that a child can have no greater inheritance than the godly teaching and the examples of his parents as we see in Proverbs 7:1-3:  “1 My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you. 2 Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.”  Now remember that Solomon was writing these proverbs to his son in order for his son to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. 

 

            A child who is obedient to his or her parents is a joy to raise and live with, but according to Proverbs 10:1 a disobedient child brings the opposite “A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.”  Let us look at some more verses from Proverbs “He who sires a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy” (Pr. 17:21).  “A foolish son is destruction to his father, And the contentions of a wife are a constant dripping” (Pr. 19:13).  It looks like this man has double trouble. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “The world today has much to say about children’s so-called rights.  But the emphasis should be on their responsibilities.  Emphasis on rights—whether by children or adults—weakens and destroys relationships on every level.  It is the sense of responsibility that builds right relationships as well as right character.

 

            If we look at the second chapter of Luke we will see that even Jesus had to grow in the ways every child grows.  “51 And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:51-52).  Jesus grew intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially.

 

            Children today must grow in all of these ways so that they will live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.  Jesus was the perfect example for all of us, even when He was a child. 

 

            Now because today is Sunday, this SD will be shorter than most of the ones done during the week, but I will add that if you take a look at the words that are highlighted above you can see that one can look at them and figure out how children are to grow in each of those categories.  It is up to the parents to teach the children these ways.  One of the ways that I found that worked for our family when our children were home was to make sure that the things that I taught them at home went along with the things that they were learning in Sunday school, church, and also in their school, and that is why I sent my children to a Christian school, and then to a Christian college. 

Today’s very short quotation from “Love in Action” is as follows:

 

Blessed be the God,the Father of mercies [encouragement].

II Corinthians 1:3.

 

9/8/2019 9:46 PM