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Should We Teach Children to Obey God? — 9 Comments

  1. Obeying God is a right and loving response to all He has done for us. The Bible clearly teaches how important obedience is. Eph. 5:1-2 says, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Jesus’ fragrant offering was given out of obedience. He didn’t want to die, but He did what God asked Him to do because He loved His Father and He loved us. We’re to do the same as imitators of God and His Son. Terrific, thought-provoking post, Crystal.

    • Thank you, Linda. Your response just adds more depth to my post. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts! Crystal

  2. The quote from your book is absolutely true. God has established the way for us to grow in our relationship with Him, including reading the Bible and praying.
    Unfortunately, the criticism may be originating from a desire to avoid the legalism often found in previous generations, as you noted.

    The problem seems to be that they’re “throwing out the baby with the bathwater” –
    how’s that for an old-time expression? 🙂
    What I mean is, the issue should not be cessation of the spiritual disciplines you encouraged in your book, such as reading the Bible and praying. The key is doing those things with a right motive. If we simply teach children to “go through the motions,” we create a moralistic mindset (e.g. I must do right for the sake of doing right) which easily morphs into legalism. But if we teach children to love the Lord and do these things as an expression of that love, then the focus becomes the motive rather than the “doing.”

    I love what you said:
    “God’s love is unconditional and does not depend on what I do or do not do. My obedience to His Word is not to earn His love, but rather to return my love and receive His blessings.”
    Your obedience is clearly an expression of your love, not an attempt to earn His love. And I know you communicate that in your writing!

    In answer to your question, no, the words “obey” and “being good” are not preachy or legalistic…unless they are taught as the foundation of the Christian life, rather than the true foundation, which is new birth and life change in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. The difficulty, as you well know, is found in trying to communicate this in age-appropriate ways without compromising the truth. That’s why I marvel at writers who think writing for children is easy. Nothing could be further from reality!

  3. I agree with Ava. I think the criticism you are receiving, Crystal, is a pushback against legalism. Pushbacks sometimes lead to doctrinal imbalance, which seems to be the case here.

    We obey God out of love for what He has done for us, not in order to earn His love. A subtle distortion of this truth has infiltrated the Church. Some are misinterpreting obedience to mean “works.” In a sense, to obey is, indeed, a “work,” but it is a work that results from being born again not a work required to be born again. It is a work after the fact of salvation, not in order to receive salvation.

    Consider Matthew 7: 21: 21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” To do the will of the Father is to obey His Word.

    Blessings,

    MaryAnn
    ______________________________________
    MaryAnn Diorio, PhD, MFA
    Author & Writing Coach
    http://www.maryanndiorio.com

    “Heart-Mending Stories for the Young
    and the Young-at-Heart”

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