A son honors his father.
If then I am a father,
where is the honor due me?
says the Lord.
Malachi 1:6
Most of God's prophets spoke for the Lord in times of rebellion.
God is saying, "Israel, you are rebelling like a thankless son. I have given you life. I have promised you a future, and lots of blessings. So where is the honor due to me?"
Do you remember failing to honor your mom and dad? We disobeyed. We said yes -- but didn't pretend to do what we promised. We lied about big things and even little things. We constantly bent rules. We sneaked around like they didn't know what we were up to. We dishonored them.
And yet after a few years, what happened in most of those relationships? Usually two things: 1) they forgave us and 2) we matured.
In most cases, because of a parent's love and patience, the teenage years are behind us and a right relationship has been restored. (That's true in our relationship with God too. Because of his love and patience, nothing delights him more than for us prodigals to come back home and for a right relationship to be forged.)
But I want to look at the second thing that happened in those relationships: "We matured." What a marvelous gift to our parents when we mature!
That's true in our relationship with God too. We're not supposed to remain spiritual children forever. Yes, we hope to always have the trusting faith as a child, but we also want to keep learning, growing, and maturing.
Think about it. We don't want to remain in the place where our faith needs to be continually mothered. We want our relationship with God to turn into more of a friendship.
In Christ's Love,
an ever-maturing child
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