Honoring Mothers and Fathers

Exodus 20:12 tells us to honor our father and mother which is all well and good if they are godly, but does God expect us to do so if they are not godly?  Does this automatically let us off the hook? 

Transcript

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Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to Unfiltered with Jesse B. Since Mother's Day is this Sunday and just a few short weeks later is Father's Day, June 21st, I thought I would go ahead and talk about honoring mothers and fathers. We all know that the holidays are times of joy and celebration for many, but for many others it can be a time of sadness, depression, possibly even anger. Days like Mother's Day and or Father's Day are no exception. So wherever you're at, I hope you'll hear something of benefit. Exodus twenty twelve tells us honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. This commandment is one of the ten commandments given to Moses by God. The word honor comes from the Hebrew word caved, which means heavy or serious in the context of respect and care for parents, regardless of their age or the child's age. Choosing to obey this commandment comes with a promise of long life and blessing, not from our parents, but from God. Now some of you may be thinking that it's all fine and good if you have godly parents, but what about the parents who are not godly? What about the parents who, instead of providing a safe, nurturing environment, littered their environment with toxicity, be it through verbal or physical abuse, blatant moral corruption, or just outright abandonment? Does God expect anybody to honor that? The answer that I have found is both yes and no. I'll explain it this way. We honor God by obeying his commands. John fourteen, fifteen, Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commands. Jesus said nothing about keeping commands if circumstances, opinions, thoughts, or feelings made it easy to do so. Just simply, if you love me, you will keep my commands. Obedience is God's love language. Honoring God's commands is about obedience and commitment to God, more so than a reward for those in authority. For example, you may or may not like the current president, his administration, or agree with some of the policies. That's certainly your right, but in order to honor God, you can still show honor and respect to that office and pray for them, as we are commanded to do in Romans 13 1 and 1 Timothy 2 1 through 4, just to name a couple of verses for reference. Another example, there may be one or two local law enforcement officers that I don't particularly like, nor do I agree with the way they have conducted themselves in certain situations. However, I still respect their position and will always honor law enforcement. You will never see me at a defund the police rally. You will never see me provoking a police officer or acting in a disrespectful or malicious way toward a police officer. Why? Because I am to honor those who are in authority over me. Even if there may come a time I don't like or agree with how they've handled the situation. I do it because it's God's command, not because whether or not I think the officer deserves it. And it's the same goes or the same rule applies for a boss, teacher, pastor, etc. We honor the position, but that does not mean we have to honor the conduct if doing so goes against God's standard of living. Likewise with mother and fathers, we may not agree with or respect the choices that they have made. We may not like the way they're living or condone their conduct in certain situations, but we can still honor their position as mother and father for no other reason than it's a command from God. So where do we go from here? If you are a parent, remember that God may have used you to bring your child into this world, but ultimately it was God who gave that child life. Psalms twenty four one reminds us that the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it and all who live in the world belong to the Lord. With that being said, stewardship just isn't about managing material resources. I think it also includes relationships. If you are the child, which I would imagine all of you are listening to this, are adults, but it would mean that you would still respect your mother and father just simply for the fact that they are your mother and your father. Sometimes what that looks like is being the bigger person, doing what you know to be right independent of how they may act toward you. It doesn't mean relinquishing boundaries that might be set, or it doesn't mean subjecting yourself to abuse, control, or sinful behaviors, but it does mean being respectful, being forgiving, and showing patience, all in love, which we can do and still maintain healthy boundaries. So I hope that this was helpful by at least giving you some things to consider. I know it's probably not your typical Mother's Day or uh Father's Day message, but in light of Mother's Day, I do wish all the mothers out there a very happy Mother's Day and hope your weekend is enjoyable. And remember, for any situation, the Lord may not always take away the pain and the tears, but he's right there with you as he's always promised to be. Until next time, love you guys. God bless.