Honoring Your Father and Mother

 

“If then I am the Father, where is My honor?”

Malachi 1:6

 

What is honor?

Honor is defined as, “high respect; great esteem.” It’s when we choose to treat someone like they’re very important, often more important, than anyone else in the room. Notice that this says we choose to treat someone that way. Honor isn’t something that you can demand that someone else give you. You can demand that someone be obedient to your rules, but you can’t really force someone to believe that you deserve to be treated like you’re important.  

 

What does this mean for me?

If you’ve read the Ten Commandments, you know that God tells you to honor your father and your mother. This means that you treat them with respect. It means that you understand they’re a very important part of your life, and you don’t forget about them when you’re old enough to take care of yourself. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have friends or that you don’t move away from home. Honoring your mother and father simply means that you show gratitude since they are who God chose to bring you into the world.

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments so that the Israelites would know exactly how He expected them to behave. The list of commandments is pretty short (there were only ten). This is probably because we feel really overwhelmed when we have too many rules to follow at once, and God’s purpose is to help us – not frustrate us. Of the thousands of commandments that God could have given, He only chose ten. We can be pretty certain then that, If God included something in the list of Ten Commandments, it must be really important.

We should follow the Commandments simply because that’s what God told us to do. However, He actually promises you something in return for honoring your parents. Ephesians 6:3 says that you should honor your parents, “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” That’s right! God promises that if you show true respect and gratitude toward your parents, if you don’t forget about them when your older, you will have a good and long life. And God never breaks His promises.

Did you know that God is your heavenly Father, who is also to be honored? Above all people, including our parents, he is worthy of respect and gratitude. He loves us and cares for us, and He always does the right thing – even when our parents don’t.  God can bless our lives and do good things for us even when our parents make mistakes. Honoring your parents is about trusting that God tells us to do things for a reason. He will fulfill His promise of a good and long life, just trust that He is always faithful.

 

What do I do when this is difficult?

Sometimes it can feel difficult to honor your parents. Maybe you feel like they treated you unfairly. Maybe they asked you to do something that you don’t agree with.  But honoring your parents isn’t about their fairness or your agreement with everything they say. We can dislike something or someone and still show respect and gratitude. The choice to show honor isn’t always easy, but loving God means that we do our best to follow through with His commandments.

 

Conclusion

Just because honoring our father and mother comes with a promise doesn’t mean it’s always easy. But God sees everything. He knows when you’ve been treated unfairly, and He knows when you make the decision to show honor anyway. On days when honoring your parents is difficult, remember that God is your heavenly Father. Treating your parents with importance and respect, even when you don’t feel like, shows that you love Him first.

 

Prayer

We are told to walk like Jesus (1 John 2:6), which means that we ask God to help us make the choices that honor Him. One of those choices is to honor our mother and father, which can be really hard. Thankfully, God hears us when we ask Him to help us do what’s right.

 

Father, thank you for your goodness and kindness. Thank you for leading us in the path of righteousness by giving us clear commandments to follow. I know that you do all things for a purpose. Help me to trust you when I don’t understand what that purpose is. Thank you for your faithfulness, and that you always fulfill your promises. Help me to honor my father and my mother because I know that doing so also honors you.

 

 

 

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