Honorin' Parents

O. T. #199  "Honorin' Parents"
Dec. 31, 2013
Exodus 20-Part 6
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12

LET IT GLOW

Saturday I spent several hours with my two favorite woodsmen. We weren't dressed in camouflage to hunt. I was in her red razorback sweatshirt and hubby was in his blue long sleeve shirt. We were out to saw up, split up, and load up wood for our two fireplaces in preparation for more winter weather. So the three of us loaded up in our son's old green Chevy and drove through the muck and mire from the melted snow. We went to the hill on the back of our farm. I filled two boxes and a bucket with smaller sticks and pieces of wood for starters of a warm fire. (Sunday's high is forecasted at 26 degrees.) What a wonderful day! The nippy wind blew, the sun was shining brightly, and eagles flew overhead. I picked red berries on a leafless bush for my white vase inscribed "grateful", which is sitting on my kitchen table. The only wild critters I encountered was a tiny worm at home inside a log. Thankful for no snakes or skunks!
I was singing to the Lord out there with the saw buzzin' and the splitter puttin'. I was grateful for Dad and Mom leaving me this farm to live on while I served the Lord the last season of my life. Childhood memories flooded my head of picking daisies and wild strawberries, heardin' the cows up with Dad, helping in the chicken houses, and talking to God on that hillside. How can I honor my parents since they have been gone some 16 and 26 years? By being grateful for the upbringin' they gave me, sharing their love with others, and serving our God. Honoring parents. Didn't I read that somewhere in the Good Book?

The fifth commandment which God gave to His children through Moses was just that-honor your father and mother.
Honor (kebed) means to make heavy, weighty, honored. (Young's Concordance)

This is an obligation as long as one's parents are alive. They must always be respected and must be obeyed while under their direct authority in the home prior to a young person's marriage (Gen. 2:24, leave his father and his mother). This commandment begins the second table of the law. The first four reveal our duty to God; the final six our proper relations with man. (Falwell)

This commandment has a promise-living long in the Promised Land.
It is extended to all ancestors in the ascending line-parents of father and mother to grandchildren to come. Rebellion is costly, and many have paid a high price personally for their rebellion against their parents. If the younger generations are constantly at war with older generations, the foundations of society will be destroyed.
[Reference: John Gill's Commentary and David Guzik's Commentary]

Are we teaching our children and grandchildren to obey their parents and elders?

LET IT GROW

Ephesians 6:1-2 NIV says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. " Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise-that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.

Other verses on this subject are: Col. 3:20-21; Mal. 1:6; Lev. 20:4; Deut. 21:18-21; Prov. 13:24, 22:6, 1:8.

Do we want a long, blessed life? The answer is found here.
Parents have the responsibility of teaching their children right and wrong, God's Word, obedience, and modeling them.

Children are to obey God rather than men when abuse or breaking the law is involved. (Acts 5:29)

Parents are to be respected, as well as adults.

LET IT GO

Do not be a rebellious person, but an obedient one.

Love God's Word; love our parents; love our children and grandchildren.

Respect my parents.