“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Honouring your father and mother is important enough to God that he made it one of the Ten Commandments!
When God boiled down his great moral laws to “the big ten”, he included things like “do not murder” and “do not commit adultery” and “do not make idols”, so it might seem a bit surprising to us that God would make honouring our parents one of his most important moral life-principles. In fact, it is the only one which also has a promise attached to it.
The importance of family relationships has gradually diminished in our culture, but God is reminding us today that it has never diminished in importance to him. One of the most important things you can do before God is honour your earthly father and mother.
That doesn’t mean that you have to pretend that they perfect or that they don’t have big weaknesses. But it means that you pay attention to them, that you respect them, that you listen to them, that you ask their advice, that you acknowledge any good part they have played in your life to others.
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