Obedience in Foster Care
Written by Jon Sampson
When I was in Sunday school as a kid there was a song that they taught us to help us learn the importance of obedience. I don’t remember the verses, but the chorus went like this: O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E, obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.
After I spoke last week, I was immediately flooded with things I wished I had included. One of the things I wanted to expound on more was the end of the Philippians passage I read, Philippians 2:5-8. The end of verse 8 says that ‘He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.’ I talked about this passage in regards to foster care, but I don’t think I did a good enough job highlighting Jesus’ example of choosing obedience over comfort.
When it comes to foster care, the phrase ‘obedient to death’ doesn’t mean literal death (hopefully). For Christ it did, but for us, I think it means something different. We should be obedient to death, even death of our own comfort and desires. Death to our traditional view of family and judgmental attitudes towards bio parents. Death to our own feelings of emotional safety and security.
That may sound reckless, but that’s exactly what God did for us. Earlier in Philippians 2, it reminds us that Christ ‘did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.’ He had an eternal seat with the ultimate comfort and security, but he chose to give that up out of obedience so that you and I could have the opportunity to experience the same comfort and security that he had. Even if we never chose to accept his gift, He was still willing to sacrifice so we could have the opportunity. If that’s what He did, then that’s what we should do. We should choose obedience over comfort so that a child might be able to experience the comfort and love that we often take for granted. Even if they never accept or seem to appreciate it, it’s still worth the sacrifice so a child can have the chance to experience a loving family.
Please contact me if you’re interested in learning more about this and how you can get involved in helping a child through foster care.
When I was in Sunday school as a kid there was a song that they taught us to help us learn the importance of obedience. I don’t remember the verses, but the chorus went like this: O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E, obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.
After I spoke last week, I was immediately flooded with things I wished I had included. One of the things I wanted to expound on more was the end of the Philippians passage I read, Philippians 2:5-8. The end of verse 8 says that ‘He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.’ I talked about this passage in regards to foster care, but I don’t think I did a good enough job highlighting Jesus’ example of choosing obedience over comfort.
When it comes to foster care, the phrase ‘obedient to death’ doesn’t mean literal death (hopefully). For Christ it did, but for us, I think it means something different. We should be obedient to death, even death of our own comfort and desires. Death to our traditional view of family and judgmental attitudes towards bio parents. Death to our own feelings of emotional safety and security.
That may sound reckless, but that’s exactly what God did for us. Earlier in Philippians 2, it reminds us that Christ ‘did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.’ He had an eternal seat with the ultimate comfort and security, but he chose to give that up out of obedience so that you and I could have the opportunity to experience the same comfort and security that he had. Even if we never chose to accept his gift, He was still willing to sacrifice so we could have the opportunity. If that’s what He did, then that’s what we should do. We should choose obedience over comfort so that a child might be able to experience the comfort and love that we often take for granted. Even if they never accept or seem to appreciate it, it’s still worth the sacrifice so a child can have the chance to experience a loving family.
Please contact me if you’re interested in learning more about this and how you can get involved in helping a child through foster care.
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