There is a brother who used to attend our church and now lives in California after getting married. He said he was stopping by the UK briefly to visit his parents, so my wife and I met him for the first time in a long while and shared a meal together. As we comfortably talked about the past and about our current lives, we also shared our common struggles as parents in raising children, struggles that all parents go through. He then said that no one could have caused their parents as much trouble as he did. He then said that no one could have caused their parents as much trouble as he did. He shared how his parents, pushed to their limit, took drastic action by sending him out of the house without giving him even a penny, which caused him to struggle greatly. But now he takes care of his parents more faithfully than anyone and has become a truly devoted son.
Parents have lived in this world for decades longer, so they possess life wisdom that money cannot buy. Also, as the children grow older, they know people who can help their children in areas where they need support, and so parents can unexpectedly be of great help. However, children often believe they understand their own lives better and therefore do not listen carefully to what their parents say, sometimes even ignoring them. When I shared these thoughts with him, he said almost as a confession, “It seems like children listening to their parents is as difficult as us listening to God.” I felt this was a remarkable statement. It sounded like he was saying that listening to one’s parents can be as difficult as encountering God personally.
In other words, whether the object is God or one’s parents, obedience carries the same nature. In fact, according to Scripture, the very first sin was Adam and Eve’s disobedience in eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a choice rooted in wanting to become like God.
People typically distinguish sinners from the righteous based on moral standards, but the Bible evaluates them based on their attitude towards God. In Luke 18, verses 9 to 14, Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector praying in the temple. The Pharisee prayed, thanking God that he fasted, tithed, and committed no social injustices. The tax collector, on the other hand, was distressed because he had to collect taxes from his own people to give to the Roman government that ruled over them, and he prayed, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus declared the tax collector, not the morally impressive Pharisee, to be righteous.
Paul described his transformed attitude after believing in Jesus as the obedience that comes from faith (Romans 1:5). Conversely, he referred to the state of sinners before believing in Christ as sons of disobedience, explaining that this condition is spiritual, influenced by Satan, the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Ephesians 2:1-2). Ultimately, whether obedience is toward God or toward parents, obedience is not merely a matter of willpower. It is a matter of faith, a spiritual reality.
Recently, as my faith in God wavered, I found myself acting emotionally. But while meditating on Scripture, I realized that obedience is fundamentally an issue of faith in God. Right there, I declared, “God, I choose once again to trust You as my Father,” and at that moment, I experienced myself returning to where I needed to be. Obedience truly is a matter of faith.
