Faith in Teenage Terms

Obeying your Parents

We all have those days where we have the worst attitude in the world. I had one recently. I was being an absolute jerk. Unfortunately, this happened at youth group....with my pastor. He was gonna take me home, but my parents were gonna come pick me up, and I wanted to stay and watch Elf, and it was just really confusing. Long story short, I hung up on my mom, which was a huge mistake.

Later that night, my pastor texted me and asked how my apology went. I told him that she wasn't really mad, just a little upset. He said, "treating our parents with love and respect is a big deal. While I'm not saying that you can't have an opinion or feelings, when we do something, we get checked on. We need to repent. God holds us to a high standard. Our actions and attitudes matter."

This kind of just hit me. I felt so guilty for hanging up on my mom, and I knew my pastor was right. I forgot that in the moment.

Our parents are some of the most important people in our life. They make so many sacrifices for you, you don't even realize it. They teach you life lessons and show you how to do things, like the proper technique for loading the dishwasher. It's a big deal to show them love and respect.

A lot of times, it can seem like our parents hate us, and just don't understand. Well, the truth of it is that they were your age once, too. Now if it seems like they hate you, they don't. They are trying to make you stronger or teach you something.

It's really important to listen to your parents. They know what's best for you, and (I know....you know everything), they're wiser than us. They've had more experiences, and they have more life lessons for us.

The Bible tells us in Exodus 20, "Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord has given you." This is the first time in the Bible that God promises us something. It's a dependable promise...listen to your parents, and you will have a long life. And, come on? Who doesn't love life?

God doesn't ask us to love and listen to our parents. He commands us to.

I guarantee that every single one of you has disobeyed or talked bad about our parents. That's not how God wants us to act towards our parents. He gets upset when he sees us disrespect them.

However, when we respect and love our parents, that puts a huge smile on God's face. He wants us to follow his word, and we get rewarded when we do. Why else would he promise us something like a long life?

I've heard lots of people talk bad about their parents, or say that their parents are stupid, or whatever. I've done it too (don't worry, I'm not the perfect Christian). God gets really upset when that happens.

God calls on us to show love, whether that be towards strangers, or our family.

~Author's note ~

Hey all! Hope you liked this chapter and learn from it! :) I really felt God working on me when I was writing this. I hope you all are learning and growing from this story. I'm learning a lot just by writing it. I think you guys will like the next chapter!

Ephesians 6:1- Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.