Click here to return to Blog Post Intro
Honor Your Parents During Childhood
Children are to love and respect their parents. During the early childhood years, we are to obey them and do what they say. Parents have a calling from God to carefully and consistently protect their children from the destructive force of sin.
From Genesis 1:28, God designed the family as the basic unit of life on earth, with fathers and mothers bearing children to fill and subdue the earth. Children need to be trained in subduing the earth and ruling the creatures that God entrusted to our care. God meant for this to be done in a relationship with Him.
God intended that bearing His image and likeness would be foundational for bearing children and ruling His creation. Therefore, parents should cultivate compassion, diligence, and obedience to the Lord. Then, they will bring Him glory.
Honoring parents moves from simple obedience to respect and cooperation during the adolescent years. As they establish their identity apart from Dad and Mom, adolescents can still be respectful!
Steps to Honoring Parents
- Listen to their guidance and wisdom (Proverbs 1:8).
- Remember what they say (Proverbs 3:1)
- Obey them (Colossians 3:20)
- Speak wise words that agree with the Word of God and that honor them (Proverbs 23:15-16)
- Treat them with respect and reverence (Leviticus 19:1-3)
- Accept their training and discipline as that which is best (Hebrews 12:5-11)
- Always speak respectfully to them and about them; never belittle them (Exodus 21:17)
- Never abuse them or harm them physically (Proverbs 19:26)
- Avoid ungodly friendships or any alliance that would shame them (Proverbs 23:17-21)
- Look for ways to honor them as they age, and be ready to care for them (Mark 7:1-13; Proverbs 23:22)
Honoring Your Parents as Adults
1 Timothy 5:3-8 points out the responsibility of children or grandchildren to care for parents and grandparents. In honoring or providing for either, we are fulfilling a duty to God as well as to our parents. We are repaying parents in an honorable way—a practice acceptable to and pleasing to God.
In Matthew 15:4, the fifth commandment is repeated, using the Greek word timao for honor. Timao is from timios, which means “to prize” or “to value.” So giving honor to parents means to recognize their value, or realizing they are precious. We should value their experience, wisdom, and counsel, as well as their gifts of life, labor, and love. As adults, we “treasure” our parents, especially following those moments of awakening when we recognize how much love, time, energy, and effort our parents invested in us. In this season, we say thank you and treasure the ones who poured themselves into us in our younger years.
In its simplest form, the fifth commandment is concerned with the care of one’s aging parents. Parents are to be respected and honored at every season of life, but especially in that season of life in which they are most dependent on their children. In Ruth 1, Ruth made a firm commitment to Naomi (verses 16-17). In the same way, we should verbalize our loyalty to our parents and firm our own commitment, so they understand we’ll take care of them.
Parental Responsibilities
Parents have a responsibility under the Fifth Commandment as well. God designed the family as the basic social unit of a healthy society. Loving parents who raise godly children build a launch pad for every area of life.
Parents have the following principal duties:
- To instruct their children.
- To provide a good example. Children are particularly quick to detect inconsistencies and despise hypocrisy.
- Enforce correction and discipline.Bottom of Form Abraham did more than just offer advice to his children. He enforced law and order in his household. The rules he administered were intended to keep “the way of the Lord”. Bottom of FormOne way of needlessly provoking children to wrath is to hamper them with a thousand trifling restrictions and minute regulations that are capricious and are due to the emotion, whim, or temper of the parent. Pay close attention to the unconscious influences of a child’s surroundings.
- Respect both the temporal and spiritual good of your children and fervently pray to God for them.
Honoring Your Parents as the Foundation for All Relationships
The type of life that someone lives at home will sooner or later be exported to the world outside the home. The home is a training ground for life, and second only to personal allegiance to God. Honoring parents is foundation for all other relationships outside the home—relationships with others at church, at school, at work, in the government, and throughout society.
The Fifth Commandment extends from our literal “father” and “mother” to all of our superiors. We should reverence them whom God has exalted to any authority over us, and should render them honor, obedience, and gratitude.
Properly honoring parents brings stability and strength to the home and the community. That attitude and order help to establish the self-discipline and societal discipline needed to build the strong relationships and solid partnerships so necessary in business and government. Without proper order at the grassroots level, the infrastructure of a society begins to decay and eventually collapses. The result is a fragmented nation, which can easily become a conquered nation.
Just as honoring God is a foundation of all ten of the commandments, so reverence for parents is an attitude affecting every attitude toward others. It is directly linked with the remainder of the commandments, which touch on respect for another’s life, marriage, property, reputation, and overall well-being.
In the Old and New Testaments, we see the clear command to honor father and mother. Parents need to be encouraged, and children should express gratitude and honor to their parents for giving them life. If your parents are still living, let them know how much you appreciate the role they have played and still play in your life. Be sure to articulate specific ways God has blessed your life through them.
As Out of This World Leaders who are trying to live life as God designed it, how we honor our father and mother demonstrates how we respect authority and establish healthy relationships in life… And healthy relationships are key to our leadership effectiveness today and leadership potential tomorrow…