Because I said so.

"When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Jesus to ask him to come and heal his servant.  When they came to Jesus, they earnestly pleaded with Jesus.  'He deserves to have you do this for him,' they said.  'He loves our people and he built our synagogue for us.'
Jesus went with them.  He had almost reached the house when the centurion sent friends to say to Jesus, 'Lord, don’t be bothered.  I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof.  In fact, I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to you.  Just say the word and my servant will be healed.  I’m also a man appointed under authority, with soldiers under me.  I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes.  I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and the servant does it.'
When Jesus heard these words, he was impressed with the centurion.  He turned to the crowd following him and said, 'I tell you, even in Israel I haven’t found faith like this.” Luke 7:3-9
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When I was young, my father was a United States' soldier, and much of his instruction to me came from that perspective.  My brothers and I were often given the answer, "Because I said so", when we would ask why we had to say, think, or do something a certain way.  When I was young, most families also used, "Because I said so" in their homes: parents and children understood the value of obedience simply because...  I'm older now, and recognize how families and perspectives have changed.


Now, parents are being told that the words, "Because I said so", should (pretty much) be eliminated from their vocabulary, because it devalues a child's sense of self and will impair a parent's relationship with him/her.  I am being told to think that when I speak to my children in this manner, it hinders their ability to learn from me.  This is sad, not just because it is untrue, but because training children to do as they are told simply out of respect for authority - despite their inability to fully know or understand why - is where faith begins.  Tragically, epidemically, it is becoming more and more obvious that our children, and many of this nation's citizens, are now suffering from a severe deficiency of faith.


Every child begins with a mother and a father; because, this is God's design and life (even in its smallest measure) cannot be known without adhering to His plan.  For God's glory and in His image, a father and a mother form the protective, nurturing, and guiding authority for the offspring who has also been created to express His glorious image.  Unfortunately for families and societies, people have been playing with His plan since its inception; though, all along, it would have been best to strictly abide in it.  Getting all creative with God's original design, people have tried to change and glorify what it is to be a family to suit their own plans; however, every change darkens and removes God's glorious image from the family portrait.

One way or another, however, we are all required to submit to the authorities that God has placed over us (regardless of how those in authority submit themselves to God), even from the moment of conception.  Parents now can take the life of their unborn, or they can nurture, guide, and protect the life of their child as it begins in the womb until the time their life is taken from them.  Choosing the latter for their offspring, parents can and should maintain the authority in their home; this is their responsibility for the parent/child relationship.  And, being the intelligent and impressionable creatures that they are, children all have the opportunity to grow wise and in faith, or foolish and disbelieving, depending on how well they maintain the parent/child relationship by submitting to their parents' authority.  Submitting their own authority to God, parents will see blessings in their family for generations; rejecting authority - in any measure - within a family insures the opposite of God's blessing.

As a young child, when I heard the words, "Because I said so", (irregardless of the tone and volume used to speak them) I knew that there should be no more discussion from me.  I knew that I simply needed to obey; because, by not doing so, something not-so-good would happen to me.  When I disobeyed, I found out that, what I knew would happen to me, often did.  The older I got, the more my father was able to offer me information regarding the process of how and why something bad always happens to those who are disobedient, as well as show me how and why the most glorious of relationships always endures through obedience.  I have discovered that growing in faith in the Kingdom of God works similarly.

Our faith grows or disappears in relation to how well we value God: to seek His glory, His authority, and submit to His ways.  The Apostle Paul made disciples for Christ in many places, and gave a lot of instruction on how to continue that kind of work.  Teaching the next generation on how to relate to all who belong in the Body of Christ, he said, "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.  Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Timothy 5:1-2)".  Paul understood what it meant to belong to the family of God, and clearly instructed on how every disciple - regardless of age - should view this reality.  The purpose of our relationships in our churches is to 'grow up' in Him - in humility and under His authority to speak, think, and act - to glorify our Father.

Though everyone is created in the image of God, not all are able to provide the miraculous blessings of God; because not everyone chooses to humble themselves in submission to the Father's authority, relatively few people ever realize what it is to be a member of God's family.  Jesus said, "...Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?'  Pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. (Matthew 12:48-50)”.  Too often, we actually destroy our faith by falsely believing: it is through being close to someone which enables us to give and receive the greatest benefits of the relationship.  Instead of thinking anything like, "You don't know me well enough to tell me what to do", we should think more like, "Tell me what to do, because I see evidence in your life that you obey the heavenly Father".  The more we live under His authority, the better we learn to submit to God, and the more mature we become; growing in these disciplines, our humility and relationship gain us the ability to understand the Father and the greater blessings of always being His child.


In the Scripture passage quoted at the top of this blog, the centurion displays the kind of knowledge that faith requires, and Jesus declares the fact that such knowledge and such faith escapes most people (sadly, as Jesus noted, it even escapes God's own people).  The centurion fully understood the connection between authority, obedience, and blessing, and it was credited to him as faith.  Though he had not been raised under God's Law, as soon as the Roman soldier discovered the One True God, he did everything he could to participate in the miraculous benefits of abiding with Him and His people.  In complete humility, he understood that a relatively close relationship with Jesus was not required to receive the blessings of God ("I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof.  In fact, I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to you.").  By witnessing - even from a distance - what was gained and lost when Jesus spoke, the centurion simply believed in Jesus: he believed that Jesus was who He claimed to be, and that He was someone he could trust with his life and the lives of those he valued.

Faith, like a person, starts small.  With parents' discipline, and a child's humbled submission, individuals gain a good sense of self, but something much more important, too: a sense of belonging.  Expecting obedience at the smallest level is a beautiful and glorious thing; it can usher people towards a relationship with Jesus, enabling them to know His blessings and benefits for this life, and throughout eternity!