Your Daily Devotional for August 14, 2007

 

August 14,  2007

 

 

Family Honor

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

 

Ephesians 6:1-4

 

 

 

Bees can show us something about teamwork. On a warm day about half the bees in a hive stay inside beating their wings while the other half go out to gather pollen and nectar. Because of the beating wings, the temperature inside the hive is about ten degrees cooler than outside. The bees rotate duties, and the bees that cool the hive one day are honey gatherers the next. Even so, God desires that families work together to bring glory to His name.

 

We learned yesterday that God has commanded us to honor the authority in our lives. He has placed them over us so we may seek their counsel and heed their godly advice. Not all authority is going to give us godly advice, but we must respect and honor those God has placed over us. Today we will see that we should honor the role of parents in our families.

 

There are many different stages of life in a home and each stage has a different way of honoring parental authority. Children are required by God to show their honor through obedience. Ephesians 6:1 says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." Young children may not be able to understand everything about honoring authority, but they can understand how to obey. As parents, it is our job to teach our children to obey the authority in their lives so they may honor the Lord.

 

Teenagers, in particular, should be careful to show honor through their attitudes. Sometimes it is easy to obey the authority, but if it is not done with a right attitude, it is dishonoring. If teenagers do not learn to rightly respond to their parents, they will many times have problems later in life rightly responding to an employer, a police officer, or even the Lord!

 

Proverbs 30:17 says, "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." God has a strong punishment for those who dishonor their parents. Teenager, you must be sure that you not only obey your parents, but that you honor them with a right attitude as well.

 

As adults, we are required to honor our parents by remembering them. It is sad to me to see how many adults leave the care for their parents up to a nursing home or hired nurse. I understand that there are situations where the parents need extra care, but we should not forget about the people who raised us! We can call them, take them some flowers, send them a card, or do other simple things that express our love and appreciation for all they have done. We must honor our parents by not forgetting them.

 

Are you honoring your parents? Teenager, are you having a good attitude each time your parents tell you what to do? As an adult, are you showing your parents how much you still love them? Ask God to help you honor Him by doing something to honor your parents today.

 

 

Daily Bible Reading

Psalm 89-90 • Romans 14

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