The Disobedience of a Child

For part of my junior year and all of my senior year of high school, I had the opportunity to help out in a second through fourth grade classroom (shout out to the amazing Mrs. Teachout). There were eighteen loud, joyful, crazy, sweet and loving children that I got the pleasure of meeting and spending time with. Each one was unique and special in their own perfect way. I loved every second I got to spend with those kids, and it will always be something I treasure deeply. Though as much as I adored the kids, there were some times when things would go south. I remember once I had to scold a second grader for using a swear word; another time I had to spend half an hour trying to coax a child out of the bathroom...they had decided they wouldn't come out until it was time for lunch - cheeky monkey! Another time a little girl called her younger brother stupid; I remember asking him if that hurt his feelings. His reply? "Nahh...she's stupid too." I love kids, and I love working with them, but I can't help but face this fact: they can sometimes be disobedient.

As I sit here thinking about the disobedience of a child, I have to wonder...are we, God's kids, disobedient little children too? We are called to care for the poor and the widowed, to look after and love others and praise the Lord and spread the Gospel, but how often do we actually do that?

This past week at my school, it has been World Outreach Week, and we have had missionaries from all over the world, from small villages in Africa, to China and Europe and the States. God was working everywhere, and it was brilliant to see. But during that time, I remember a missionary sitting down with me and discussing missions. During the time I was listening to him, he offended two people, cussed a few times and he had probably the coolest mustache ever - I liked him instantly, because he was honest. He looked at my friends and I and said: "This stuff about 'God's call' is silly. God presents you with an opportunity, and you take it. And maybe you don't want to, or maybe you do. But you do it anyway, because we are called to obey the Lord." He then proceeded to tell us that as we walked through our lives, we were either doing one of two things: leading people to Christ, or leading them away from Him.

Did you hear that? Did you read what I said? We are supposed to obey the Lord. Our greatest purpose on this earth is to spread the Gospel to anyone and everyone and to praise God. I feel like so many times we get caught up in other things about "Christianity" and "religion" and certain acts, like how passionately we worship or if we have any spiritual gifts and if we are being "good" people. News flash... None of that matters. Is worship your life? Has worship or going to church or being apart of a religious group become such an idol that we forget our true purpose in life? Have we become so distracted by  wanting to have spiritual gifts or do something great or be apart of something or be a "good" person so badly that we let it get in the way of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of others? We are either leading people to Christ or dragging them away based on what we do and how we react and how we decide to spend our time. So why do we get ourselves so caught up in other things instead of doing what God has ultimately called us to do? Yeah, I think those things can be important, but I've noticed that we can become so obsessed about that stuff that we forget about that Jesus guy and his pretty sweet Father that chose us over everything else. How disobedient little children we are... How very disobedient that we would worship the resources The Lord has given us rather than Him.

There's a passage in Matthew that says:

"They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." Matthew 23:5-10

We get so caught up in these things and wanting to be noticed, that we forget why we were put on this Earth and what God has actually called us to do. We aren't supposed to want recognition, because in that we are disobeying the Lord and saying: "No, God, we can worry about them later. But right now I just want to feel happy and good and nice - and besides, I'm doing it all for you anyway." We let ourselves and our own feelings get in the way of the Holy Spirit and that breaks me up inside and hurts every bone in my being. Who are we to tell God that we're cool worshiping Him because it makes us, selfishly, feel good about ourselves but that's more "important" than spreading the Gospel and saving people and praising the Lord unselfishly? We become so distracted and enraptured by the flashy, that we forget spreading the Good News isn't supposed to be flashy, but humbling.

We are such disobedient little children, so much so that we use things the Lord has given us as excuses and distractions from bringing people to Him. We kid ourselves into thinking that we're all doing these things for God, when really doing those things and being blinded by them for our own selfish reasons is causing us to be disobedient and forget that we should be bringing people to the Father.

So stop being arrogant about all these tools God has given you. Stop getting distracted. Get your head on straight and recognize that we have great things to do for The Lord to glorify and obey Him, and we should joyously be doing those things in abundance. We are supposed to be harvesters, not lazy employees that just sit around shouting encouragements and feeling good about ourselves until every once and a while we decide: "hey maybe I should spread the gospel today!" Be a harvester - reap the field, and do the work you were created to do! Don't ignore it and forget your purpose here. If you are the one standing in the way of a person coming to Jesus, that puts you in the Lord's way as well, and we should be fighting with Him, not pushing against Him.

Matthew 28:19-20 says:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

So go and make disciples and praise the Lord.