In “Children and Fathers,” John Mulligan continues through Colossians 3 by focusing on verses 20–21, showing how God’s call to peace and gratitude applies inside the home. The lesson connects these short commands to the wider witness of Scripture—honoring parents, teaching faith diligently, and taking family responsibility seriously—because the family is one of the primary places where Christian character is either formed or fractured. With the peace of Christ meant to “rule” in the heart, the goal isn’t simply order in the household, but relationships shaped by the Lord’s wisdom and love.

For children, the instruction is direct: obey your parents in everything, because this pleases the Lord. Obedience is presented as a spiritual act, not merely a family rule—something done out of reverence for God even when it feels difficult, inconvenient, or unfair. At the same time, the lesson clarifies what obedience is not: it never requires participating in sin, deceit, or wrongdoing. The call is to follow parental guidance in what is right and moral, with an attitude of respect rather than defiance, delay, or passive resistance.

For fathers, the command is just as weighty: do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. The warning aims at the kind of parenting that crushes rather than forms—harshness, unreasonable demands, favoritism, inconsistency, or hypocrisy that provokes deep anger or slowly breaks a child’s spirit. God’s design is not fear-based control, but steady leadership that disciplines with purpose and builds a child up toward maturity. And for anyone carrying pain from an absent or harmful father, the lesson closes with hope: we are not left fatherless—our heavenly Father is faithful, present, and never forsakes those who belong to Him.