Daily Bread 3-4-17
Colossians 3:20
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
ref. - Pr 23:22 - Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
Just as Ruth was obedient to Naomi when she was told to go and lay at Boaz' feet(Ruth 3:3-5), so should we be obedient to our father and mother. You see, rather than returning to her carnal family and to their gods like her fellow sister of Moab did, Ruth swore off her family and her nation and chose to follow a pathway with Naomi serving God and continuing in the Holy way. Part of that Holy way was to be obedient to her mother. It just so happened that Naomi was not Ruth's carnal mother but had become her Spiritual mother as Ruth decided to leave her worldly things behind and serve God. In turn, Ruth became Boaz' wife, they had a child called Obed who was the Father of Jesse'(Christ is out of the stem of Jesse') who was the father of David, etc. and we were given the gift of Christ. Today, we need to look at this example and decide which way we are going to follow. We can follow a carnal path that will only lead to death and destruction and make the devil our father and the world our mother, or we can follow on a Spiritual path that leads to eternal life and blessing having God our Father and the Church our Mother. If we believe in God we also believe that he created us, therefore is he not the father that begat us? Has the Church not brought us nurturing and upbringing Spiritually so is she not our Mother? We mustn't go looking for another mother or become hateful to her just because she is not modern and up to date with the things of the world or the thinking of worldly carnal people. This is not her purpose, the purpose of the Church is to bring us to unity in the things of the Lord. If we are to move on Spiritually into another land than that of worldly people, we must become obedient. If we cannot even obey those who have been put in front of us to lead us, whether it be husbands to wives, ministers to the Church(sometimes both), leaders to ministers, parents to children, how will we ever become obedient to God. It takes a special kind of loyalty and love that is not achievable through the ways of the world or carnal upbringing. No, this loyalty and love can only be received as a gift from God. Repentance and remission of sins, a new life, a fresh start, and then praying continually to receive the perseverance necessary to be obedient and fruitful to the structure and purpose that we are given in this wonderful Gospel through Jesus Christ. So let us look at this scripture with Spiritual eyes today and choose where we will go, back to where we came from, or continue on with our Spiritual Mother and Father into eternal life!! God's will is for us all to follow him!!! Have a great day!!!!!