Child's Behaviour
Yesterday morning we held a Swine ‘Flu clinic. One young man was so furious about having the injection, he threatened to report his parents to the police, kill the doctor and burn down the surgery. Fairly common abuse you might think, from the youth of today, brought up on a diet of violent computer games and freely available X rated films, seeing around them little respect for human suffering or property, but this child was four years old!
The most amazing thing (or maybe it could have been predicted) was that the parents had bribed him to come to the surgery by allowing him chocolate for breakfast. I am sorry if I am upsetting parents by saying this, but I think the power in that family was residing with the wrong member. When I was a child my parents set boundaries, both physical and behavioural, and I knew what would happen if I crossed them, freedom is scary. Maybe they were overly restrictive compared with others even then, and these days would probably have fallen foul of social services for limiting my self expression but I was secure in my own space and knew my importance, or lack thereof, to the rest of the world. If I obeyed the rules I was happy and so were those around me. If I disobeyed not only I suffered but so did those with whom I came in contact and also my parents, whom I let down.
I wonder, does God have the same problem with His children? In the Old Testament there are many rules and regulations. Whilst those such as the Decalogue are still the ideals for a Christian lifestyle, most became obsolete when Jesus sacrificed His life for us. God does not ask much of us in return for this wonderful gift. When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, He replied, to love the Lord our God and secondly He told us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves (Matt.22:37-38).
We have free will but there is one task given to us to demonstrate that we have faith and love God, it is to go into all the nations and make disciples (Matt.28:19). How we go about doing this is debated long and hard at many a business meeting and Bible study but what we need to remember is Jesus’ prayer “Not my will but yours” (Matt.26:39). We are all God’s creations, we were in His care before our conception (Is.44:2) and He knows what plans He has for us. We must ask God what He has planned and listen to Him. If we try and make Him act on our plans the power balance will be wrong, we do not have the whole picture. Listen and obey and we will be happy, secure in our assigned place.
