Colossians 3:18-22

Instructions for Christian Households

18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers,[c] do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

We all hate it. The moments when our parents are striken with strange symptoms like naggyness, overprotectiveness, over-reaction to the littlest things and the list goes on.




And yet as we've seen in verse 20, in order to please God, we gotta obey our parents! Hmm, and I'm pretty sure Impactors love God and want to please Him right? (WE ARE GOD CHASERS!)

In addition, if we would look closely into verse 20, God is calling us to obey our parents IN EVERYTHING! Ahh we are such sinful creatures.

Also in verses 22-25 (and it's not really only talking about poor slaves literally, so we really can't sit back and shake leg), God calls us to be work at everything with all our hearts, as if working for the Lord. It sounds easy in principle, yet when we're faced with that pile of unending homework, the looming and dreadful examinations, the annoying project mates who do not do their work, the irritating officers in army who keep pushing our buttons etc etc, we conveniently chuck God aside. And how about the good things like getting good grades, gaining recognition in our CCAs or rising the ranks in army/work? How often are we susceptible to receive that glory as if it was by our own strength that has enabled us to achieve all those and forget that it is God whom we serve?

*ahem ahem* are we all super discouraged now?

During this week's cell group time in Phoster, I got my members to share what are the struggles that they face and I wrote them on the whiteboard. Then, I drew a big circle around the list and gave them a huge reality check - that all these are gonna stay! (and of course, they started whining and being angsty.. what adorable folks). Sorry guys, life isn't a bed of roses.

So what then? Well, like what Gladys also shared in her message, it all boils down to our attitudes and choices. We do not have control over the difficult situations. Sure we can keep praying for God to change our parents, that difficult teacher/projectmate/officer/supervisor..but seriously..how many of us have really succeeded in such prayers? It's really not about them, but it's about us - what kind of attitudes are we gonna adopt. It's really the attitude of obedience that makes us different from the rest of the world. Amen?

So what's next? MAKE WISE CHOICES! Will you make the wise choice, starting this week, to adopt the right attitude in our walk with God? :)

Just to end off, I'd like to share a quote which I shared with Phoster:

We do this not to be loved by God, but because we already are loved by God.

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Here's what a Phostee Hui Ling has to say:

I was really quite delighted that DI actually went quite in dept into the topic of honouring our parents. Like besides trying to put God as the center, focus on eternal things, sat's message was a good and timely reminder for me that another way to make my actions count as a Christian is to honor my parents, be grateful that I have them and am greatly loved by them:)

So the action for me to take would be to be more patient with my parents. Like not to be too quick in dismissing what they say, but to give them due respect they need. To treat them better than how I treat my friends, to reciprocate their love for me by helping them in the small things they want me to do and not procrastinate. Yup and to pray for them too:)

Its superrrrrr easy to say, but its so difficult to do. Cause as a child, I'm so used to depending on them that there's this unconscious part of me that is so used to just "taking" from my parents, putting my demands on them. Yeahh...so it time that I realise that they are still human beings who love to be loved back by their children. YUP! And yes try to portion some of my time for them:)
:):):):):):)