30 Days of Obedience - Day 17

Colossians 3:20
"Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord."

To obey parents and those in authority is putting on Christlikeness. When we obey whom Christ has put over us, He is well-pleased. In Colossians 3, relationships are spoken about. This is they way God intended relationships. He intends for us to interact with one another in this way. However, in many, many circumstances a person is walking in disobedience and ruins what God has intended.

When I look at this verse, I remember a 2 times in my life where my dad wanted me to go into a gas station to buy him cigarettes. The first time I was underage & the second time I was not. Both times I refused to buy the cigarettes. Was I wrong in disobeying him?

1. Many may not agree with me on this, but smoking is wrong (1 Cor. 6:19). God gave us this body to take care of to the best of our ability.

2. Disobeying the law of the land is wrong (being underage) (Rom. 13:1).

3. In the underage scenario, I obeyed the higher law of not buying my dad cigarettes.

4. When I was of age, I refused to support my dad's addiction to nicotine. Addicts simply believe they cannot live without whatever they are addicted to. Those who say or think they can stop at any time, are in denial. Those who come out of addiction do not have an easy time with it. Without Christ, most who come out of addiction turn to something else as an addiction. They quit smoking and become an alcoholic, for example.

5. Addiction is putting something in your life higher than God. In this second scenario, I knew my dad would still stay with his addiction, but I had to listen to my personal convictions. My convictions were put into me by a higher authority, God. I couldn't find it within myself to help my dad put cigarettes above my God.

God is not well-pleased if we obey our parents when they are telling us to sin. This is where we need to love God more than we love our parents and do what is right (Matt. 10:37).