Repent and obey

Sometimes little children can teach mega lessons. Such an occasion took place this past week. Doris recounted a phone conversation with our daughter that was suddenly interrupted by a lot of commotion in the background. My wife naturally asked what was going on and Charlotte reported that our little two-year-old Meg was pestering her brother. Our daughter interrupted the telephone conversation to address the situation with a “time out” discipline. “Meg,” Charlotte sternly admonished, “Go to the school room.” This room designated for home school during the week doubles as a good place to have a “time out.”

Doris heard a firm reply from the little lips of defiance, “I do not want to go to the school room.” My wife waited as she assumed this response would unleash a new level of discipline. However, Charlotte resumed her conversation with her mother. Doris probed, “Do you need to take care of something?” Charlotte responded, “No. Meg is on the way to the school room.” Evidently a defiant two-year-old quickly rethought her response and decided it would be best to obey her Mom.

After Doris and I got a good laugh over the episode, I thought, “This reminds me of the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-32.” Two sons responded differently to the father’s command to work in the vineyard. One was defiant, and then obeyed. The other was verbally compliant, but never obeyed.

The mega lesson from Meg and parable was simply this; defiance must be repented of and replaced with obedience. I do not know how long it took for Meg or the first son in the parable to regret their decision. However, I do know that once the regret came, obedience was the result.

How often am I like Meg when it comes to my heavenly Father? I resist His will only to regret my sinful response. The problem is that I stop at the point of regret. I do not repent and obediently follow the Father’s will. I just feel bad. I assume that God will discipline me. I begin a pity party about my stupidity. Sometimes I shrug my shoulders and say, “O well!” What God wants is for me to not just feel differently about an act of defiance, but to act differently.

The question Jesus asked in the parable was, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” The crowd answered correctly the son whose defiance was changed into obedience. The second son, on the other hand, reminds us that saying the right words is not the same thing as doing the right things. Words are no substitute for obedient action.

Meg taught me a mega lesson. I need to not only be a hearer of the word but a doer also (James 1:22). That’s true even after I have displayed a spirit of defiance. I wonder what Meg’s next lesson will be?