Richard and Lindsay Roberts – First of two parts
Our children are grown now, but we always based their upbringing on obedience. It was not obedience because we wanted to lord it over them, be ruler over them, or dominate them. But as it says in Ephesians 6:1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
As long as what we were training, teaching, and leading our children to do was right, they were to obey us — not just for the sake of “Mom’s right and Dad’s always right”, but for the sake of learning obedience as a young child. The Scripture says, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
We believed that if we could train our children to be obedient to their parents and understand the act of obedience, then they would understand the act of obedience to Father God. Obeying your earthly parents is simply an example to set the stage for learning obedience to your heavenly Father.
I think if we learn obedience, the rewards will be ours. The benefits are ours. God will make our enemies His enemies. He will make our path straight. He will make a way for us and set His angels before us.
We obey not just because God’s right; although He is right. We are obedient because after we obey, God is faithful, God is honorable, and He will honor us for our obedience.