\u201cSkip! Come back here! SKIP!\u201d David slumped on the porch, dejected. Why wouldn\u2019t that dog ever listen to him? He had tried everything to teach him to mind. It wasn\u2019t because he wanted to be mean to his dog. He loved him! He wanted to keep him safe, but Skip wouldn\u2019t listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s all the yelling about?\u201d David\u2019s dad asked, rounding the corner of the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Skip again. He just won\u2019t come when I call him if he\u2019s found a rabbit or something to chase. I\u2019m afraid he\u2019ll go out on the road and get hit by a car, or some larger animal will attack him. How can I protect him when he won\u2019t listen to me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you think he just doesn\u2019t care for you? Doesn\u2019t love you anymore?\u201d Dad queried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David shook his head. \u201cNo, I know he loves me. He\u2019s so excited to see me every morning or any time I get back home from being gone somewhere. It\u2019s only when he\u2019s off chasing something that he won\u2019t come back until he\u2019s through running.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHmmmm,\u201d Dad mused. \u201cHe reminds me of someone else I know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomeone who loves to play basketball, read, and play video games and is slow to obey his mom or dad when he\u2019s asked to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, Dad, that\u2019s not the same at all,\u201d David said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to protect Skip and teach him how to be safe. You and Mom just want me to clean my room or do my chores. I can always do those later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDavid, one of the things that makes me so proud of you is your desire to serve God. Did you know that God values obedience over anything else? He said that He would rather His people obey Him than to give Him great offerings and sacrifices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeriously? I thought sacrifices were, I don\u2019t know . . . like the greatest thing you could do for God,\u201d David answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not what God said when He told Saul why he was being fired as king. In 1 Samuel 15, God used His prophet Samuel to tell Saul that obedience is better than sacrifice and that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Can you think of anything further from God than witchcraft?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d David admitted. \u201cWow! God is really serious about rebellion, isn\u2019t He?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, He is,\u201d replied Dad. \u201cSamuel told King Saul that because he had rejected the word of the Lord, God rejected him as king. Can you imagine how disappointed God was in Saul?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d never want God to be disappointed in me,\u201d David said. \u201cI\u2019ll always obey God, no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know you mean that, son. But when you don\u2019t obey your mom and me, you are disobeying God. Remember the fifth commandment? \u2018Honor your father and mother.\u2019 Or how about the words of Paul in Ephesians 6:1? \u2018Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.\u2019 God is serious about you obeying us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad continued. \u201cMom and I are trying to bring you up to be the godly man you want to be. Just like you\u2019re training Skip to be a well-behaved dog and to keep him safe because you love him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWow. I\u2019d never thought of it like that before,\u201d David said. \u201cI\u2019m going to try a lot harder to mind you and Mom when you first tell me what to do, and not wait for my time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSkip! Come back here! SKIP!\u201d David slumped on the porch, dejected. Why wouldn\u2019t that dog ever listen to him? He had tried everything to teach him to mind. It wasn\u2019t because he wanted to be mean to his dog. He loved him! He wanted to keep him safe, but Skip wouldn\u2019t listen. \u201cWhat\u2019s all the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1576,"featured_media":32079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2598,2431],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n