Honoring Your Parents

Honoring Your Parents
We just celebrated Family Day on Monday February 18. This day got me thinking, ‘How can families celebrate Family Day without children honoring their parents? How can they have a good time together? The same applies for Mother`s Day and Father`s Day.

One of the Ten Commandments God gives in the Bible is “Honor your father and your mother…” To honor means ‘to respect, to love, to obey.’ In many families, children obey their parents only out of fear; only because they are afraid. They don’t obey out of love or from the heart.

True, sometimes parents, especially fathers, abuse their authority. They demand respect but they have not won the love, the hearts of their children. The same is true for parents who neglect their children or parents who have not nurtured their children to love and respect them. The hearts of the children are turned away from their parents. These are not excuses for children not to honor and obey, but it does happen and brings great sadness.

Parents weep, asking: ‘how come our son doesn’t love us or respect us? Look at all that we have done for him! What did we do wrong?`

It’s really important that God, His Word, be first and center in our home and in our relationships. If we grow in our love and obedience to God, we may trust our children will grow to love, honor and obey us. Our children will also see our love and honor to our aged parents.

If we don’t begin with God in our relationships, in our family, neither will our children. There will be no true respect and love for the teacher, or the boss at work or the police officer in the street. Violence, adultery, stealing, lying and discontentment will reign the day.

This commandment, ‘honor your father and mother”, is the first commandment with a promise, “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” That is, the quality of life is better and your life is not shortened by violence, alcohol or drugs.

It all comes down to the heart of the matter: our hearts. How do we begin to love and obey our authorities from the heart? God gives the gift of a new heart to all who trust in Christ. It’s never too late. With Him, we can begin today and the change will speak volumes to our children and to our parents!