Have you ever heard a teenager, in irritated disbelief, argue with their parent, “You’re so mean! Why won’t you let me…? All the other kids get to?” Maybe you were that teenager. This argument comes right from the first temptation in the Garden of Eden. Fortunately, we can teach our children the story’s application – submission to a loving authority figure – before they get to an age of adolescent rebellion.
Scene One – The Loving Authority Figure
The biblical account begins with Genesis 2:15-17. Adam, Eve and God walked together in a lovely garden in perfect fellowship. Adam and Eve had freedom to do anything they wanted except eat from a mysterious tree that God planted in the garden. God knew that eating from that tree would result in spiritual death and an end to the perfect fellowship and pleasures of the garden. So, God loved Adam and Eve enough to warn them not to eat of that tree, enough to make a rule against it.
Godly parents are a picture of God to their kids. Parents love their children and want what’s best for them. Parents create rules to protect their children from experiencing avoidable suffering. We need to be intentional about explaining this to our kids.
Scene Two – Submission Rejected
Next, is the scene of the temptation is recorded in Genesis 3:1-5. The devil tempted by using an appeal to try something new, to know more, to be like God, to know good and evil. Prior to this Adam and Eve only knew good, but the devil made knowing evil sound so appealing. He convinced them that that God was lying when He said eating the fruit would kill them. And we know what happened next.
Kids are like Adam and Eve; they want the beautiful, easy life, but they also want to know more. They can easily be convinced that the rules their parents have given them are intended to make life boring or cause them to not fit in or to miss out on something.
Scene Three – The Consequences of Rebellion
Finally, in Genesis 3:12-24 we watch the concluding scene. Knowing evil, Adam and Eve experienced fear and hid from God. They lost their beautiful home, their easy life, and their fellowship with God.
Parents can teach their kids the meat of the story. Breaking the rules will put them in a place of knowing what they really didn’t want to know. It will break their relationships and cause them to live in fear. Even once their sin has been brought out into the open and acknowledged, they will live with that harmful memory the rest of their lives. How much better life will be for those kids who understood that loving authority figures give them rules to protect them from a sudden pain or a life-long struggle with sin!
The discipline of submitting to authority is sorely missing in the American Church. Most Americans disdain the thought of submission, for we are independent, freedom loving people. Many American parents believe their job is to raise their child to be an independent adult. But God doesn’t call us to be independent, but instead, dependent on Him and interdependent with other believers. We are to live as one body, in mutual submission to one another, under the authority of Christ our Head.
To summarize, learning to submit to Christ begins with learning to submit to parents. Teach your kids submission to a loving authority figure so that they will mature into submissive and joy-filled followers of Christ.
Lisa Gallington has been studying the Word since she was 12 years old, with a special interest in end times prophecy. She has a passion for preparing the Church and everyone she comes in contact with for the return of Christ. She leads women’s ministry at her church and teaches a Bible study, often connecting the studies to end times prophecies and prophetic headlines. She has authored several books including End Times Preppers Devotionals and the accompanying End Times Preppers Bible Study and Foundation of Faith: Hebrews 11.
