Mommy's On The Phone, So Use Smoke Signals

Some people claim there are many ways to interpret the Bible. My kids fall into that category because they believe there are a lot of ways to interpret "Do Not Talk To Mommy When She's On the Phone."

For example, jumping up and down using sign language? Well, Mommy never forbade communication.

Silently mouthing words and drawing pictures? Again, keeping radio silence cannot be deemed talking.

I'm waiting for the day they discover smoke signals and morse code.

The crazy part is that when I wave them away? They translate that as: YES, GO EAT COOKIES. AS MANY AS YOU WANT. 15 MINUTES BEFORE DINNER.

Kids are great at exploiting loop-holes. If I let them, they would only obey when strictly necessary. And first they'd ask me to define necessary.

Their less than obvious attempts at negotiating the rules makes me wonder how often I do the same thing with God.

How often do I place conditions on my obedience to His Word? How often do I exploit loopholes?

To wit, is my obedience to God contingent upon whether or not it is convenient for me?

Disobedience begins with questioning the command. After all, the first question Satan asked Eve was: Did God really say....?

If my relationship to God is based on what I interpret as obedience, haven't I created God in my own image? Haven't I degraded God to a figment of my imagination, a genie that obeys my bidding?

Something tells me that when I stand before God and give account for my life, my interpretation of His Word will sound terrifyingly stupid if I chose to disobey. Sadly, we are living in a culture that glorifies rebellion and validates every excuse for disobeying God's Word.

That's why I'm teaching my children: obey first. Ask questions later.

Because no matter how you interpreted it Mommy never said it was OK to go eat cookies 15 minutes before dinner.