Example In Conduct:
1: Worshipful Submission:
Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. ~ Luke 2:51
Jesus, the God-Man showed submission to His human and sinful parents while on earth.
How convicting.
One of the most important parts of our conduct as youths is, I think, to be submissive and obedient to our parents, and thereby, worship God.
Here’s something I learned recently that one would think would be so simple, but it took me 15 years to learn!
One morning my mother asked me to water the greenhouse. I was sort of tired and did not want to water the greenhouse! But I said okay, put on my boots, and walked outside. I tried to smile, but it didn't come naturally. So I asked God why I was feeling like not obeying my mother. Technically, I was obeying her, but my heart wasn't really in it. He seemed to tell me that it was because I was watering the greenhouse only for her, not for Him. The phrase found in Ephesians 6, ‘in the Lord,’ all of a sudden made sense. He commanded children to obey their parents 'in the Lord,' for it is right. My mother had told me to water the greenhouse, but God had been in control of my mother and the situation, and since He commands me to obey my parents, I decided to take the command to water the greenhouse like He had asked me to do it. I began to smile and laugh and told God "I'm watering the greenhouse for You! I love my mother, but it's because You commanded me and gave me the grace to obey that I am doing this.”
I think that watering the greenhouse that day was an act of worship. Because I loved God, I wanted to keep His commandment, and I was so happy doing it! Every task can be like this, if we are doing the right things for God, and not for ourselves or the person who asked us to do it. We can find joy in serving Him and it can be an act of worship!
Have you ever thought of every little act of cheerful and total obedience to your parents as an act of worship to God? I hadn't! What joy it has given me! Now obedience is not 'just' doing what they tell me... it's honor and submission and adoration of my Lord.
Also, just a quick word of encouragement to those who are in a painful relationship (I'm not talking about abuse) with their parents - no matter how bad the relationship is, with God's strength, it really honestly truly can turn into one of the biggest blessings in your life. Please don't give up or let the guilt or your past (whether that's from five minutes ago, two days ago, weeks, months, or years ago) hinder the progress God wants you to make in the future. It's never too late to start listening to instruction.
2: Holy Conduct
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” ~ 1 Peter 1:15-16
This is another Cross Reference. It mentions ‘conduct,’ which is a theme word from 1 Tim 4:12. Here it says that we are to be holy in all our conduct.
As I mentioned in the previous post, we simply cannot be holy unless we have His holiness accredited to us, and He is living inside of us. But, if we are believers, this is our un-burdensome command from our King. (1 John 5:3.)
How to be holy in all our conduct? This is something I'm still learning about!! But I think that it starts with understanding HIS holiness, and thereby, His beauty, for the two are interchangeable. Ephesians 2:14 says,
“Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
We will be like Him someday, in glory!
Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son… ~ Romans 8:29
Until then, we are being conformed to the image of His Son, who is perfectly holy. Jesus was perfectly holy on earth. Holy in His childhood, holy up until His death (and after.) As fallen humans, we cannot expect to be perfectly holy on earth, but we are commanded to work toward that with all fervor!
Practical Application: Do we desire to be holy? Do we believe that Jesus is better than any other thing we could think of on earth?
Better than the pleasures of sin?
(I recommend this helpful comic. :D )
If we are desiring to be holy, set-apart, and pure in all our conduct, we will be desiring something that is according to His will, (Ephesians 5:17) and I know that He will be happy to help us become that. As we read the Bible each day, a good idea is to keep a notepad for writing the attributes (characteristics) of God on as you come across them.
Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. (Hosea 6:3) Then, let us ask Him to make us like Himself. His grace is sufficient.
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~
