The Importance of Obedience

By Rhonda Clark 

Obedience is a rebellious word. It’s a word we all love to hate. Its demanding requirements can wreak havoc on the family unit. Couples divorce because of it, and children become defiant and unreasonable. The family is splintered into multiple factions all because of obedience, or lack thereof. This is not how God intended obedience to be perceived.

In Ephesians 5:22-33 (NLT), God gives a definite order of authority in marriage:
22 You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.

25 And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife. 29 No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. 30 And we are his body.

31 As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

God is head of the man, and the man head of the wife. Right here I know I’ve lost some of you. I even know some women who left the word ‘obey’ out of their marriage vows. They refused to be subject to a man’s authority. This is right where problems start. When a woman refuses to obey God’s command to submit to her husband, rebellion takes root. Wives, God isn’t saying you are to be a slave to your husband, what He’s saying is the final decision has to be made by one person and that’s the husband. Look at it this way, what would happen to a company whose CFO refuses to submit to the CEO? For one, that CFO wouldn’t be around for long, and board meetings would be more like the onslaught of war than a productive encounter. The CFO has to be on board with the decisions the CEO makes. If not, the company personnel will find themselves picking loyalties at the expense of profits and a cohesive work environment. If this could happen to a major company, then it can also happen to the family.

Children are another animal all their own. According to God’s word, your job is to raise children to love God, and honor authority. Usually, they don’t quite see it that way. Kids believe they are invincible and can do anything—fearlessly and without consequence. Due to life experience, we know this to be untrue. We know that when we obey, we live within our means and our boundaries. Knowing our personal and financial limits keeps us happy, and worry-free. Since kids don’t have these personal experiences (yet), it’s our job to guide them. As an example, when we’re speeding down the street, and see a police car, we hit the brakes. That police car is a reminder for us to live within our limits. If we don’t, we pay the consequence. If our children are in the car, they may see this as beating the system. You didn’t get caught this time. Playing fast and loose with our boundaries teaches our children they can do the same. By allowing our children to repeatedly walk in rebellion, we teach them God’s boundaries are unnecessary.
 
When rebellion worms its way into our hearts, it adversely affects our family immediately. Each member is forced to take sides, decide between right and wrong, and choose whom to defend or follow. Some families never recover from such a traumatic event.
All of this brings me back around to obedience. Life would be much simpler if we abided by God’s word — if we stopped allowing the word ‘obedience’ to take root in our mind as rebellion.

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