November 5 - Commandment #5- The Gift of Honor

Commandment #5- The Gift of Honor

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12

God has given us our parents. We all have biological fathers and mothers. Parents or step-parents. Others of us have someone who has stood in as a real father or mother and did the “dad” or “mommy” things with us.  Now, most did not have the option of the family they came into.  Simply put, it may not have been the best.  If asked, we even have to put a bit of a positive spin on our family tree. Like the two high school boys who tried to honor their dad on Father’s Day by putting together for him a book on their family history. The problem was that their Uncle George had been executed some years before. The oldest boy said, no problem, and here’s what he wrote in the book: “Uncle George was selected to occupy the Chair of Applied Electronics” at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties. His death came as a real shock”! Whatever our situation, honor needs to be part of our lives. The same is true with honoring others.  We may not like the President of the United States but we should honor and respect the office of the president.

The first four commandments were about our relationship with God while the next six are about our relationships with others...and mom and dad come first. Honor is defined as “to respect greatly, regard highly; treat with deference and courtesy.” The Hebrew word used here for honor means literally, “to make heavy.” In other words, don’t take your parents lightly. Give them the respect and reverence they deserve. You may say, “But you don’t know my parents. You don’t know what they did to me.”  Whatever the case, while experiences vary, we can still have respect and honor even if things weren’t perfect.

So when God challenged the Israelites with the Ten Commandments, He gave them instruction on how we are to treat our parents. He said, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12) We are told to honor our parents. This is important as we are reminded that we honor God by honoring our parents. This should inspire us to think differently than we have at times. We may have the tendency to be critical if our parents failed us in some way. At the same time, we need to remember that that we have not been the perfect son or daughter. So whatever the mistakes of the past, whether they are ours or our parents’, we are to honor them.

The reason God put such an emphasis on obedience is in the same way the marriage relationship typifies Christ and the church, the relationship between children and parents typifies the relationship between Christ and the Father, and even the church and God the Father.

Indiana Jones has remained popular for many years and became noted as a famous trilogy. One highlight from the second movie was when ‘Short Round’, the young boy, says to adult Indiana, “You listen to me you live longer!” The Bible says it’s the other way around, but the promise is still there!  When we honor the role of parents, we find God’s blessing on our lives. Paul goes on to share in Ephesians 6 that if we do “honor our parents,”  blessings will follow.

This promise that Paul talks about in Eph.6 relates to long life, and inheritance. On the spiritual level, what we have been guaranteed in becoming children of God, is eternal life, and an inheritance in Him. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans 8:16, 17)

There is the confirmation…long life and an inheritance. So when Christian children are obedient to their parents, and honor them, they are a picture of Christ’s unfailing obedience to the Father in all things, and they are a picture of the church as those adopted into the family, and therefore destined to an inheritance, rich beyond imagination.

Our days will be long for honoring our parents. Not just in number but in joy, in contentment, in family, and in heaven. The kind of people who honor their parents are the type of people who will honor God with their presence throughout eternity.  Now that’s a life worth living.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   What was your experience growing up with your parents?

2)   How can we honor them even if we did not have a positive relationship?

Consider reading the Word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser