Creator, Father, King #80

Honor your father and mother.

ONCE UPON A TIME, way back in the 1950s through 1970s, television networks produced a lot of popular sitcoms featuring stories about the idealized American family.

Shows such as Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and The Brady Bunch showcased traditional family values with a dad, mom, and several children (including at least one rambunctious boy to drive the narrative). Every series followed a formulaic story arc each week: the family would encounter a problem that ultimately would be solved by the episode’s end, all within thirty minutes—commercial breaks and corny laugh tracks included.

Real life rarely works out so tidily, but one of the hallmarks of those old shows is the children’s respect for their parents, which is often lacking in today’s society.

Honoring your parents isn’t just a nice idea or a quaint, outdated notion from a bygone era. It’s the fifth of the Ten Commandments—one of the most important commands of Scripture.

What’s It Mean?

“Honor your father and mother” is the preeminent of the latter six commandments—those that the Lord issued to govern life in Israel’s covenant community. God knew that obeying one’s parents is foundational to obeying God himself. In other words, how can you obey God, whom you cannot see, if you don’t first learn to obey your parents, whom you can see? You can’t. You must learn to do the latter before doing the former.

God graciously gave you parents to raise you, protect you, teach you about life, and ultimately, train you in godliness (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). Your parents aren’t perfect, but they are a God-given gift and an authority in your life you must submit to in reverence to God (Romans 13:1-2).

By honoring and obeying your parents, you learn to put away your selfish and prideful tendencies. You learn that your way isn’t always best. You learn to submit to a higher authority.

“Honor your father and mother” is so important, in fact, that the apostle Paul emphasized it several times in the New Testament. He cited the fifth commandment in Ephesians 6:1-3, and in Colossians 3:20 he wrote, “Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord” (emphasis added).

You don’t need to be a squeaky-clean 1950s TV sitcom kid. But you do need to honor your parents in everything!

Now What?

Do something unexpectedly kind for your parents to express your love for them.

Did You Know?

Not every family looks like the picture-perfect, black-and-white TV household. If your family isn’t picture perfect, you’ll be especially interested in tomorrow’s devotion.