Think quickly. If you had to name the one Christian value that would help young people live the Christian life and make godly choices more easily, what would it be? Chances are, your first thought was obedience. A few decades ago, you would have been correct. Unfortunately, the children and teens to whom you minister are growing up in a world where the word obedience has been demoted to something only stupid, mindless, uncool people would ever do. It’s not what someone who wants to be looked up to, admired or successful would consider. Many of your students aren’t expected to obey their parents or their teachers and you aren’t going to be able to change that dynamic quickly enough to help your young Bible students.
What you can do is teach them about a Christian value that not only has avoided negative “publicity”, but also will help them be more obedient to God. What is the value? Stewardship. You will have to do a little background education with them first since the word is not in much use today. They need to understand the trust the lords of the manors had in their stewards as well as the tremendous amount of responsibility – and ultimately, accountability – that position held. Once they have a clear grasp of stewardship, the rest easily falls into place.
Begin by pointing out in scripture all of the places where it is clear God expects us to be good stewards of everything He has created and the gifts He has given us. Help them develop a list of what things that would include. Don’t be afraid to let them add things like nature or the country in which they live – things normally politicized that needn’t be for a Christian. Make sure they include things like their body, their minds and their souls. Encourage them to list their talents and other gifts.
Then using scripture as your guide, explore what it might look like to be a good steward of each item. For controversial items, like nature, point out that a belief in global warming is not essential to be good stewards of the world around us. We may even choose to protect nature in different ways and that is fine. One person might want to focus on picking up trash, while another might decide to lobby to reduce factory emissions, just like to be good stewards of their bodies, one might choose to swim, while another hikes. The important thing is that they are actively seeking to be good stewards for every area in some way.
As you have these discussions, you will notice commands start to slip into the conversations. Would a person who is a good steward of his or her character lie? Would someone who is a good steward of his or her body get drunk? Would a good steward of a mind cheat on a test or use AI to write a paper? You get the idea. While some, if not many, of their ideas will seem secular, you can’t truly be a good steward without obeying God’s commands. Why? Because as The Lord, His standards for stewardship are those to which we will be held accountable as His stewards. Stewards didn’t get to vote on the standards of success, they just strove to meet or exceed them.
Moving young people to the concept of stewardship could be the key to helping them study and understand obedience in a way that also encourages them to be obedient. It’s worth taking the time and effort to help them understand it.