Podcast: The Trouble with Teenage Rebellion

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“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
-Exodus 20:12

You know, I wasn’t real impressed with my parents when I was a teenager. Most of my friends weren’t very impressed with their parents either. I liked them fine, but in general I really thought I knew a lot better.

I think that’s a pretty typical reaction at that age. It’s really too bad. Just because it’s the typical reaction doesn’t mean it’s the best one. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I was wrong in almost every confrontation I had with my parents. And even in those few times I was right, it still wasn’t really worth it.

I could not be reasoned with at that age. If someone claimed to know what I was thinking, what I was feeling, I would have scoffed. Just like teenagers would do if I were to say those words to them now. But here’s the truth of it – it’s all empty pride. I knew nothing then, but I thought I knew it all.

It took me a while to figure out that leaving my parents’ authority only meant that I fell under someone else’s. Even today, I work in a place where more than a handful of people with more authority than I work within smacking distance of my desk. I can (and hopefully will) move up in the company, but that will only mean that different people are above me. And even if I reach the top of my trade, the government – local, state, and national – is in authority over me.

The difference between me now and me then is that now I realize that it’s probably better that way. I’ve gotten myself into more troubles than I can count, only because I acted rather than listened. I wish I had paid more heed to this commandment back then. Maybe I would have learned some lessons a little faster and suffered a little less grief.

A good parent acts for the good of his child. Sometimes that good is not what the child wants. Sometimes it means punishment. Sometimes it means his child is going to get angry at him. But he’s still going to act for the good of that child, because that’s what love does.

And what this commandment is merely saying is this – if you have good, loving parents, have faith in them, that they are working for your good. Trust them. If they are following God, then follow them, because you know where they will lead you.

There’s a reason that God set things up like that, and there’s a reason that God tells us to call Him our Father. Like a good earthly father, He is worthy of our trust, even if following Him doesn’t seem immediately like the best idea. He is worthy of your faith.

There are probably some of you who didn’t have trustworthy parents. Your parents may not have acted in your best interest. They may have hurt you. Maybe the name “Father” does not conjure up images of love and support in your mind. I wish it did. I wish you could know immediately the relationship that God wants for you when He bids you call Him “Abba,” which is best translated “Daddy.”

Well, our Father in Heaven showed us a love you may not be used to when He sent Jesus, His Son, to the earth to die for us. You may be used to a father who takes, but God is a Father who gives. In our sin – our pride, our selfishness, our hatred, and our lust – we are not worthy to be called His children. We deserve much worse. But Jesus died in our place, taking on our sentence on Himself. In repentance and faith we run home to the Father, and God welcomes us with open arms, as a loving father should with a child who may have gone astray, and yet returns repentant.

My parents and I have a very good relationship now, despite the way I acted as a child. That’s the way it should be. I turned away from that foolishness, and I came home. That’s exactly what it’s like with God.