Submission was never a favorite word. In fact, when encouraged to obey, oftentimes, it was more adventurous to disobey. When I was young, we lived in the country, far from the people and places that mattered most. To attend church, we drove for an hour; to visit family, we drove forty-five minutes; and to spend the day with relatives who shared their home with my dad when he was a young man, we drove and drove and drove. Yes, to a kid, sometimes riding in the car seemed to fill up the best parts of the days. However, eventually, we arrived, and then the adventures could begin.

My Aunt Elsie and Uncle Fet lived in a subdivision, a concept my nine-year-old mind could not fully fathom. While I knew how to play in wide open spaces surrounding our country home, their ‘town-like’ home was boxed in by a square yard. I am sure to the one who might have been peeking out the window, the exit from our car must have looked comical because we probably looked like the urchins we were, eagerly exiting to run and play.

Up the sidewalk we would walk, entering the front door, as all respectable visitors are to do, and then we stood still while mom and dad began their conversations with dad’s great uncle and aunt. Inside their home, we would behave, but outside their home, there was great adventure for my brother and I to enjoy—even confined by the square yard.

One particular day, as we were preparing to head outside, I vividly remember my Uncle Fet saying, “Now, you two should stay in our yard. Don’t go walking in the neighbor’s yard.” Then he followed with the words that remain with me, even now. “If you step into his yard, he’ll shoot you.”  At the time, when I first heard the words, I did not know that disobedience was to follow, but indeed disobedience was the ‘play’ my brother and I enjoyed that day. First, we stepped outside and enjoyed playing within the confines of Uncle Fet’s yard, walking up and down the short sidewalk, but all the while, my eyes were locked on the neighbor’s yard. I remember telling my brother Ron, “Let’s go stand over there, by the edge.” Just as any brother might do, when I took off running, he followed. There we stood, at the place where one subdivision yard meets with another. No fence separated the two yards, just blades of grass: the neighbors’ yard and Uncle Fet’s yard. Yes, there we stood, at the edge and on the verge of disobedience. Clearly in my mind, I recall looking toward the neighbor’s house, peering into the side windows, straining to see the gun barrel pointed at me. Then, with determined disobedience in my heart, I placed my toe at the very edge of the yard where we stood, and I INCHED IT CLOSER and INTO THE NEIGHBOR’S YARD, before quickly pulling my foot back. When no gunshots rang out, I did it repeatedly, encouraging my brother to join in the fun, in the adventure of disobedience, and even becoming braver as the minutes passed. Before long, we had placed our entire bodies into the yard, standing just across the threshold of the neighbor’s boundary line.

Maybe this childhood story brings a smile to your face and maybe you are wondering if we got into trouble that day. What you should know is this:

1. We tired with the disobedient action quickly when we heard no gunfire nor felt any bullets whizzing by our ears. &
2. We moved on to lying, for that’s what I found myself doing once we returned inside the house and Uncle Fet asked: Did you stay out of the neighbor’s yard?

That is the lie I told that day and never told Uncle Fet the truth about before he passed. It is a lie I remained with me quite a long time. Along with the vocalized lie was the action of disobedience: two distinct forms of disobedience God commands us to resist.

This causes me to pause, to ponder these questions:

• While submission is the norm, when, if ever, do you think a believer is obligated to disobey authority?
• Must Christians submit to authorities? &
• If a believer knows he must disobey those in authority, must he be willing to accept the consequences for his actions?

When doing what is right in God’s eyes, but when disobeying earthly authorities, there will be consequences to face. The apostle Peter was arrested and placed in prison—for preaching the gospel. & The apostle Paul was dragged outside the city, stoned, and left for dead—for preaching the gospel. That “DAY” is coming, when Jesus returns for His church. Until then, let us be about our Father’s business.

Therefore, can a person be a ‘good Christian’ and an ‘obedient citizen’ at the same time? & Can a Christian be an ‘obedient citizen of the law’ and a ‘faithful follower of Christ’ at the same time?