Holiness in Honoring Parents

………. Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father,……: I am the LORD your God.(Lev 19:2-3)

We see the failure of this commandment in practice within today’s society, especially with the invention of the Old Folks or Retirement Homes. A visit to these places will reveal the despair of elderly parents who are placed there to be cared for ‘professionally’ but not in love. Parents who once had the strength and energy in their youth to sacrifice and love in bringing up children have been deserted and left in their sunset years amongst strangers and not family. Albeit there are ‘bad’ parents, but there is no perfect parent save our Father in Heaven. Hence there is no excuse to forfeit our responsibility to our parents who were or are responsible for our upbringing.

The covenant (Exo 19:5) gave us the first or prime commandment with promise (Eph 6:2) for wellness and long life. A commandment that is not in relation to little children only but as well as to adults; in the Moral Laws or Ten Commandments this is first in relating to others besides God (Exo 20:1-7). ‘It includes inward reverence and esteem, outward expressions of respect, obedience to the lawful commands of parents, care and endeavour to please them and make them easy, and to avoid every thing that may offend and grieve them, and incur their displeasure’ (Matthew Henry). True honoring of parents involves praise from the lips and reverence from the heart (Mark 7:6). There must be a connection or agreement between words uttered and from the heart (Luke 6:45).

The declaration of this commandment is given without any explanation except that our God is Holy and this is one of the ways we practically practice holiness or separation unto the Father (Matt 5:48). Families that honor parents are considered holy, this is a revelation of a truth that some have lost today even in the church. Breakdown in families, result in breakdown of churches. The seriousness of this commandment is not an Old Testament principle (Exo 21:15, 17) but our Lord Himself reminded of its importance (Matt 15:4). Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature when under subjection of His parents although He knew His divine destiny (Luke Luke 2:41-49).

Have some been overcome by being un-well in mind, body and spirit? Perhaps it’s a sickness unto chastisement (1 Cor 11:30) for dishonoring of parents in speech and in heart. Have lives been lived out in abundance (John 10:10) or there is lack of contentment (1 Tim 6:6, Phil 4:11). Examine ourselves if we have not obeyed this critical commandment with God’s promise.