Honour!

Honour!

“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Ephesians 6:2‭-‬3 NIV

The Context and Focus:

Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus, speaks on different topics and areas of interest for the one who wants to work for and walk with God. There is hardly any area of the Christian life and experience that the book of Ephesus does not cover. For today, the focus is on the family life. As you read the account of creation in Genesis, you get the clear impression that God's ideal of a society that works starts from the family that works. God is all-knowing, and in his wisdom, he laid out the framework for the family life that will bring Him joy. It would be ideal for me to learn what God's mind is on this matter, and then strive to pattern my life after it. If I do my own thing, or seek to go about it my own way, contrary to what God's will is, I cannot turn around and blame God for the consequences of my own decisions. Every one in the family, from the children, to the parents, and even those we refer to as servants, who may help in one form or the other, all have clear roles and responsibilities laid out by God. The best use of a life is to find out what its Creator has laid out as the right way, and to pursue after this purpose with single-minded devotion. 

The Message:

Everyone has a role. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord. Fathers are enjoined not to provoke their children to anger, but to bring then up in the fear and instruction of the Lord. Due to sin, man will not choose the right way by default, but first by total surrender to God, and then careful consideration and deliberate action, we can get it right. Everyone has a role to play; I cannot fold my hands, do nothing at all, and watch other family members play their part well, and then somehow assume that every one and everything will turn out well. The dictionary also defines honour as 'high respect; great esteem'. These are deep words. God expects me to give my parents high respect. They were the vehicles by which God chose to bring me into the world, and there is no lawsuit or emancipation measures that can change that fact. God gave rules and regulations to Moses on the Mount Sinai, and when you consider the popular 10 commandments, you find that after God had laid down the rules for men's engagement with Him, the next one is the command in today's verse about honouring parents.

The Conclusion:

If I know and call God my Father, I must know what he desires, and seek to do as He has commanded. If God is indeed my father, I cannot claim to love him and at the same time dishonour my earthly parents. Check out the promise that is linked to the command, and you will know that God means business. He ties long life and success to the honour of parents. You may think it odd, but closely tied to this command is also the law of sowing and reaping. God is not unjust; you cannot obey God's law and not live to see the fruit of your obedience. You cannot truly follow God's laws, and not have proof that it pays to obey God. Men must know that you serve and follow God. It is also a unique selling point that can be passed on to future generations, where I can teach my children by my own personal example of how I honoured my own parents, so they would also learn the same for their own present and future. This is how the right legacies are built, and how we lay the right foundations for where God wants us to be as His representatives. God is honoured ad a father, and I have a duty to deal the same way as my own earthly father, as well as anyone God has placed as a father figure in my life. God's time of favour is here.