9.28.10 "Honor Your Father and Mother"

"Honor Your Father and Mother"

Isaiah 54:1-57:14
Ephesians 6:1-24
Psalm 70:1-5
Proverbs 24:8

"Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 'Honor your father and mother.' This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, 'things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.'" (Eph. 6:1-3)

A familiar scripture, and a few short thoughts today.

Think about this: Paul is writing this letter to the Ephesian church. Do you think he just meant for this to be read to the kids 17 and under, or do you think it was for everyone? This is one of the 10 commandments. Would God have given Moses these 10 laws, and had 10% of them only apply to children, or do you think this is a life long principle?

I believe that we are to honor our parents throughout our lives. The word "obey" often gets many hung up in this concept. "hey, I'm an adult I make my own decisions..." I think the greater principle is the word "honor".

We've now hit the stage of life where we are caring for and helping make decisions for my wife's parents. Thankfully, we have a great family that gets along, but even in that scenario, we have to remember not to do anything that would dishonor our parents. There are some decisions we will just have to make for Lisa's mom, for example, but at the same time we must honor her by making sure she feels like she's a part of the process. This is the right thing to do.

There's a tendency to look at the time of life where you would care for a parent as an "inconvenience". Living with that mindset is not honoring at all, and I don't know that God would be pleased. We've been working on developing the heart and the mindset that we've been given an opportunity to honor our parents.

My mother in law lived with us for 6 months. I've found that as we treated her with respect, my pre-teen daughter noticed. When we are curt or impatient, she noticed that as well. We see the fruit in how she responds to her grandparents and to us as well.

If your parents have already passed on, you can still honor them by the way you live. Some may have had a strained relationship with their parents, and will have to work hard to put their parents in the place of honor in their hearts, but remember the scripture: "... this is the right thing to do."

The promise is that "Things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth." Who wouldn't want that? Now, don't let your honor be self serving, but as you truly honor your parents, something happens in your heart. It's an incredible thing. If this is a change of mindset for you, be ready for unexpected blessings that will come your way as you walk in obedience to God's commands.




Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

P Greg


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