On Saturday, our family went on a treasure hunt around some old turquoise and gold mines. As we were hiking down from the ridge of a large hill, Lee went over with the girls to explore a big iron grate we saw from the top, while I helped David down. He called out to David and me “Don’t come this way.”

Now David wanted to go join his Dad, and he told me he wanted to go. I told him, “Daddy told us not to, and we must obey him.” Why? he wanted to know. I explain about God’s authority structure (God made daddies in charge of families) Now David is still learning that he cannot disobey just because he thinks he has a better way. I deal with this often when I’m the one telling him to do something. So he started to explain why it was a good idea for him to go thatway. I could catch up to Daddy. I’m a very fast runner.

It was a good opportunity to talk about submission to authority, because it was a situation where I was submitting, too. We talked about how Dad could see what we couldn’t (like dangerous holes in the ground) and how we needed to trust him. We don’t have to understand why in order to obey.

This was a God-given teaching opportunity.  I believe that if we pray for them, and pray that God would help us see them, he will send us what we need to teach our children what they need when they need it.

As a side note, there’s a difference in the authority relationship between husband and wife, and father and children. I’m not sure how to explain that. I’ve always said, “We all obey God, Mommy obeys Daddy, David and Bethel obey Mommy and Daddy.” I think that’s enough for now, but I’ll have to think about what how we explain the relationships as they get older.

Similar Posts:

• “Because I said so!”
• Lessons of Obedience
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• Encouraging a Biblical Authority Structure

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