Fearless Obedience

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation….Hebrews 5:7-9

 

Jesus had no fear in going to the cross…for us, as directed by His Father. Fearless obedience. His prayer time in the Garden of Gethsemane at the Mount of Olives was agonizing, but He remained obedient to His Father. And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. When He arrived at the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." Luke 22:39-42. I’ve been spending a fair amount of time with four year olds and life is all about them. Then I look at my own life and consider that life is pretty much the same for me most of the time. It’s all about me. Jesus was such a good example for us all. His obedience was exemplary.  He truly did put others—us first. That was His Father’s will and He listened and obeyed. I keep telling my granddaughter now that she is four, she’s not a baby anymore and she must listen and obey. I’m trying to encourage her to obey God, as well as her parents…and me. How are you doing with your obedience to God? Is it fearless obedience? The reward for obeying Jesus, according to this passage, is eternal salvation. How much do you want that?

Training Tip – Consistent parenting is the best way to teach appropriate behavior, like obedience. Children have to listen to be obedient. It would be great if you could just speak once to them and they would do what you request…but that likely won’t happen with a toddler or even a pre-schooler. When they do listen and obey, reward them positively and it will reinforce their good behavior. The reward should be in keeping with the task—not monetary or food—just verbal praise, a smile and a high five, if it is something you’ve been working on for a while. They will be pleased because you are pleased with their appropriate actions. When they don’t listen and obey…try the old standby of “time out” and give the child 1 minute for each year of age, i.e. 4 minutes for a four year old. Then discuss with them, eye to eye, why they got the time out. Don’t lose your cool if they throw a fit—just ignore it. Keep on being consistent. It will pay off.

Lord God, You gave us such good advice in Psalms 34:11… Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. So please, Lord, help us to listen to You and do teach us to respect and fear You—for You are worthy of our love, our attention, and our respect. Our obedience. We praise You above all.

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.

© 2013 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.