God had a very specific purpose for making the 5th commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” If we look at the first four commandments, they all relate to your relationship to God. The last five relate to your relationship with others. This 5th commandment in effect is a special cross-link to your relationship with God and relationship with others. You might say it’s the key dynamic which expresses the fruit of your relationship with God and begins to establish how you will relate with others.
RELEVANCE
Honoring your parents in effect honors God because as Creator, He created you through your parents. They are also the first people you will encounter in life and have opportunity with whom to relate.
Reality is our parents establish the baseline our framework of relating with our world. They impart into our subconscious by their love, words, body language, expressions and actions. They set the early beat of our heart and way we learn to respond to our world.
That’s why it’s so important that parents relate to children at a young age with a tender touch and responsive care. It’s also why Paul, when providing instruction on family relations, made a point of exhorting parents, specifically fathers, “do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
It’s also why the very last words of the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Covenant, declare how Elijah will serve a key role in bringing ultimate reconciliation and restoration to mankind as he “will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Truly, in many ways, our world reflects what fathers have or have not imparted to children.
Unfortunately, in our imperfect world, our imperfect parents may not do the best job setting a perfect example. Especially vulnerable are children who have been raised in single-parent homes, suffered some kind of trauma, abuse or other type of dysfunction in the home. At the same time our sin nature predisposes all of us to harbor rebellion in the heart. Making matters worse, every force in the world will feed that rebellious nature to place tension in family relationships and cause fractures to curse you. The Lord, however, is your Redeemer and ultimate source of healing and restoration. It simply takes calling out His name.
REFLECT AND RELATE
Reflect on your relationship with your parents. No matter what may oppose the relationship, seek with all that is within you to honor and respect them. It will clear your conscience and pave the way for God’s blessings.
REFERENCES
Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Proverbs 1:8; 4:1; 10:1; 15:20; 19:26; 23:22-25