Because

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Colossians 3:2-11 NIV)

When I was a young child, like most children, I asked “Why?” a lot. Why do I have to go to bed now?  Mommy, why do you have a big bump on your nose?  Why do I have to get a shot?  And like most parents, often I would get a one-word answer: “Because.”  Of course, that response is rarely satisfying to a child, so the follow-up question usually is, “Because why?”  Sometimes a more detailed explanation follows, but often parents respond definitively to cut off any further discussion: “Because I said so.” Or, “Because that’s just the way it is.”

As a kid, I hated that response. I wanted an explanation and, when it involved my behavior, I wanted a reason that was satisfying to me. But what I realize as an adult is that my parents knew much more than I did and there are many things where kids just have to accept the authority of their parents, whether they agree or not, or whether they understand or not. But that runs against our human bent.  From childhood onward, we want everything justified and explained.  The weight is on the authority to defend the demand. “Because I said so” never will do. The echoes of this have reverberated from Eden down through the millennia.

Today you see this in the rapidly changing culture in which we live. “Why shouldn’t we be able to do what we want to do?”  “If people feel that is what is best for them, why shouldn’t they be able to live as they please?”  These questions have been applied to a myriad of behaviors and belief systems and, less and less, is “because God says so” acceptable as an answer.  As many parents are challenged by their children, so too God’s authority is brought into question.  Who is He to demand such things and why is there need for such demands?

There may be reasonable explanations that God gives if people are willing to take the time to hear Him though His Word, but often, because His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours, we will not be able to fully understand why He commands certain things or works in certain ways. Like children, we will just not know enough to be able to comprehend His motives. We will just have to accept His authority and trust He has our best interests in mind.

Today, in a culture that increasingly dismisses the authority of God in our lives, realize that road is wide and leads to destruction. You instead must take the narrow road that trusts that God knows what He is doing whether or you fully understand or not. That is the road that leads to life. 

© Jim Musser 2017