Sample Discussion: Dad, why should I listen to you?

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” --Luke 15:17-24

Dad, why should I listen to you?

That's an important question. Even at your age, I’m sure you’ve noticed that people can tell others to do things for bad reasons. Everyone, men and women—me included—fails to follow God as they should. That’s what the Bible calls sin. So, you do need to be careful who you listen to. But you also need to watch out that in that carefulness you don't lose the ability to listen to the right people. The ultimate right person to listen to is God, and at the heart of sin is questioning whether he is worth listening to. That's exactly what Adam and Eve did in the garden when they disobeyed God's command. They didn't trust God.

God is always good. He uses his authority to bring about good in the earth. In fact, it's his authority that enables us to stand up to those people who tell you to do things you know you shouldn’t or who treat you or others in ways they shouldn’t. 

And God has given me as your father a special responsibility to teach you about what God wants us to do (Deuteronomy 6:5–7). More than that, the Bible describes God as a father. So in the way that I lovingly lead you, I get the awesome opportunity to give you a picture of what God is like. I won’t do it perfectly, so you’ll have to forgive me sometimes, but God is the most amazing father, and I’m excited to help you learn about that by being your father. Jesus tells a great story about what God is like as a father.

Do you see the way that the father loves his son so much, even though his son has really messed up, that he runs out and embraces him and then has a party to celebrate him coming home? That’s the way that God loves you, and that’s the way I love you, too. I’m going to do my best to teach you God’s ways so that you don’t make the same kind of mistakes that that son made, but if you do, I’m always going to run out to welcome you when you come back, and so will God.