Ephesians 6:3
“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
The verse prior to this says, “Honor your father and mother.” Today’s is the promise that life will go well for the obedient child. This is a general promise. Life doesn’t always go well for everyone. But, it is sharing the basic principle that parents are wiser than the young and that they have their best interest in mind. So, if the child obeys, they will miss many traps that parent sees that the child does not.
God loves us so. I think this verse is a little more than missing traps. God blesses the obedient. I think He is looking for reasons to bless us. I think He does that as well. So, things going well, and a long life also is because God loves us and wants to bless us. This could all be happening to an unbeliever.
Part of the reason of His blessings is to bring us to Him. We respond positively to those that help us. He wants to adopt us and give us far more blessings than we could imagine. Isaiah 65:2 says, “All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations”. God holds out His hands all day long wanting to reach us.
Just as parents seek to influence their children and want them to be part of their family, so does God. He wants us to walk in His ways. Not just because their His, but because they are the best for us. Also, because many of the other ways are sinful and harmful. The Isaiah passage says they are going down the wrong path.
The Isaiah passage also says they are following their own imaginations. That deserves some comment. Everyone wants to do what they want. Just like the child, but parental input helps and saves them. So does God’s input. Without God’s input we are like ships that are adrift. Without acknowledging God’s Word, it’s like a compass that doesn’t point north. One’s entire sense of direction or right or wrong is corrupted.
Once we are Christ and are reading His Word and following Him, we can usually do what we want. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Crossline Church has this motto written on their building, “Love God, Love People, Have a Blast.” If we love God and people, we are obeying Him which is a synonym to delighting yourself in the Lord. When we do that, we get the desires of our hearts.
Paul says in I Corinthians 10:23, ‘“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.’ When we are in Christ, we have much freedom. Far more than unbeliever thinks. They see us as restrictive. It’s quite the opposite. While sin and the 10 commandments restrict us, all else is open.
John 8:34 writes, ‘Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you that everyone practicing the sin is a slave of the sin.”’ Those outside of Christ are bound. They are usually invisible chains. Romans 1:22,23 says, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.” The shocking thing about this verse is that it refers to those who think they are the smartest. They may have the highest iq’s, the most impressive degrees and are very smart according to society’s standards, but they are fools before God. They swapped out God for other forms of logic and values. They are chained to their values. It’s completely unknown to them, but they are slaves.
I recall seeing a quote during the covid era, “I’m for the latest thing.” Reversals of many of our societal values seemed to be happening daily. “The wise” seemed to have no problem with that.
When unbelievers are given up to their ways bad consequences come. Quite the opposite of the promise of today’s verse. God wants to bless and let things go well, but when one is in opposition to Him, they deny much of what He wants to do for them.
God blesses those that follow Him. They first get adopted into His family and He becomes their Father. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God”. God connects with us. We may have felt lost and alone, but no more. We have a new Father that connects with us. We are part of the family of God and we have new brothers and sisters.
God gives us direction and a new life. I am doing things I wouldn’t have imagined. This isn’t bragging, just grateful to be doing it.
Thank You, God for Your many blessings. You have truly allowed it to go well for me and have given me length of days.