Want to

We are trying, albeit with difficulty, to teach our two little ones that there are three stages of obedience. They, like all children, and like I was when I was a child, think that we just keep telling them, "No," and "Stop," just because we are trying to steal their fun and stop their joy. But, that is not the case at all.

We start out obeying our parents because we have to. I mean, if we don't, there are serious consequences and repercussions. I don't know about yours, but my parents were swift in meting out discipline. SWIFT! Then, you transition into obeying because you need to. As we get older, if we want to go to the movies, or hang out with our friends, or go to a friend's house, we must obey and do what we are told during the week (e.g., clean our room, do our homework, etc.). Finally, we begin obeying because we want to. We want to be pleasing to our parents. We want to stop worrying them and frustrating them. We begin obeying because we want to. We go through these same stages with our Heavenly Father.

Today's word is Psalm 40:8, NLT, which reads, "I take joy in doing your will, my GOD, for your instructions are written on my heart."

It is when we reach that final stage of obedience, because we want to, that we really begin to experience the joy of just obeying. We begin to take joy in doing the right things and in being the person that GOD created us to be and that our parents strove to mold us into.

As we mature physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, we begin to obey because we want to; we like the feeling of pleasing those we love. I want my parents to be pleased. I want even more for my SAVIOR to be pleased. I pray we all mature enough to see the joys of obeying because we want to.

Be Blessed,
Mickey T