Last week, I had a discussion with my son because of his school performance. I asked him to pay more attention to his school work instead of his computer games. His response is “Dad, I know what I am doing.” So I told him, “OK, I certainly hope you do. I just don’t want you to get angry and frustrated next time.”  As a parent, this kind of discussion is not a pleasant one but is necessary because “Children are a heritage from the LORD 兒女是耶和華所賜的產業” (Psalm 127:3a)

Parenting is certainly not an easy task for most of us – it requires tremendous love, care and time in order to bring them up. When they say “they know what they are doing”, it usually means either “they have grown up and become independent” or “troubles are forthcoming”, depending upon their maturity.  The difficult part is they mature physically does not automatically imply that they have matured spiritually. How to tell when is the right time to let go of them, considering their maturity, requires a close relationship and constant reality-check between us and children.

When Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they knew what they were doing. The result is they committed a willful sin by violating God’s command of “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:16-17)”.  They chose to ignore God’s command and it results in the fall of humankind. This tells us how powerful the temptation is and how weak we are in front of the temptation. God, as the creator of humankind, knows how vulnerable we are and because of His love, He provides His Son Jesus Christ as the propitiation of our sin.

When we say, “I know what I am doing”, the keyword “know” reveals our motivation and intention. Sometimes we may not know how severe the consequence of an action we took is. In the example of Aaron’s negligence in following Israelites’ request of creating an idol, the golden calf, for worshipping because Moses was not in their amidst for 40 days and nights,  the consequence is about 3000 Israelites’ lives (Exodus 32:15-29). Do you think Aaron did not know what he was doing? I don’t think so! So, my question here is “Do we really know what we are doing?”  Before we say yes, we need to do a reality check of our intention. Then, how can we check our intention before taking an action? The answer is we need to develop a close relationship with God.  With a close relationship with our Lord, we can come before Him asking for help in directing our path. Then, you may ask, “How can I develop a close relationship with God?” Reading His words and obeying His words is the key to a close relationship with God because His word is a lamp for our feet and a light on our path (Psalm 119:105).

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.