From the Desk of Melissa Reinert…
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘That it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.’” Ephesians 6:1-3
The fundamental relationship in our lives is the relationship with our parents. The parent-child relationship typically sets up the course of all relationships in our lives. So it’s an important one, for sure.
God’s word has a lot to say and show about the parent-child relationship. This week, we’re going to focus on the child’s duties in the relationship, which really is to mimic our relationship with God. Paul tells children in chapter six to “obey your parents in the Lord,” simply because it is the right thing to do.
It is very important that Paul makes note that this obedience must be “in the Lord.” This is because the Lord is our Heavenly Father, and with Him we have the ultimate parent-child relationship, ie. the Lord is No. 1 in our lives. We should not be doing anything outside of His will, even if it’s something someone we trust or should be able to trust most wants us to do.
He goes on the say that the first commandment with a promise that God gave to Moses is “honor your father and mother.” The promise is so that it may be well with us and that we may live long on earth.
This is also the first commandment that addresses a human-to-human relationship. The first four focus on our relationship with God. So it’s interesting that the first human-to-human relationship focuses on the parent and child, with a charge to the child to “honor” his or her parents.
To honor is to regard with great respect. Honoring our parents means more than giving them obedience and respect, however, it’s also about loving them.
It’s that simple. Or is it? Love in the parent-child relationship can be difficult, especially when the love has not been appropriately reciprocated. In such circumstances, there’s only one place to turn… to the Lord. We can ask the Lord to help us love like Him, when there are strains in our relationship with our earthly mom and dad.
Jesus said, in Matthew 22, that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord; the second others. Love God love people. Remember, our parents are under the same human condition as us. We need to show them God’s unconditional love; it’s the only way to follow the Lord’s heartfelt wish that we give honor to our parents.