It's hard to realize when you should shut up and stop arguing...

The parent child dynamic always interests me. As the father of 3 sons there was always this element of respect that I required of them. I remember when Christopher was about 13 years old, he asked me if he could have a video game. I reviewed it, and decided that the answer was "no." In typical child rebuttal, he replied "Anthony's dad let him have it!" My answer was... "but I'm not his Dad, I'm yours."

That is the way life is for everyone that calls themselves Christians. We cannot look at others who live around us and want what they have. We have been chosen by God, adopted into His family, and as a result, must either choose to live by the rules... or choose to be disobedient.

There is a scripture that I've heard in church when I was growing up:

"But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him." - Habakkuk 2:20

The interesting thing about this scripture is that it is written when the people were in exile. God had removed them from the promised land and to Babylon. The kingship of God was no longer in effect because the people wanted to live as though God was not their Father.

The prophet stars off the book by saying:

 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted. (Titus 1:1-4)

God says "I am in my temple... I reign."

Today, let us struggle to remember that God loves us. There may be a desire for us to do some of the things that we see other do, but in the end... the world is not our father... God is.