Capital City Church International Capital City Church International

 “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.  Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.  The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.  My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.”  Proverbs 23:22-26

Since we have been on the topic of family lately, dealing with mothering, fathering, and marriage and I thought it would be a good idea to look at the issue of honoring our parents.
 
We all love to jump on this band wagon as PARENTS, quoting scripture and doing our best to instruct our children to obey us, follow God’s ways etc., which are all good things to do.
 
We firmly believe in the scripture that teaches, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you and you may live long in the land.”  As parents we do our best, loving, teaching, guiding and disciplining our children when necessary to bring them to a deep and loving relationship with Jesus Christ.  I believe this is also a preparation for us, that one day, as we age and may need assistance and care, that we have raised our children in such a way that they are willing and able to look after us.  We often do get what we prepare for, so preparing your children well now; will reap benefits of relationship into your future.
 
But thinking further down the road, I couldn’t help but ask myself, now that I am grown, with children of my own, am I STILL a good child?  Do I still honor and respect my parent or parents (and in-laws)?  It’s somehow easier to assure our children respect us but do we still have a deep love and affection for our parents as they age?
 
In our own intelligence of the modern age it is so easy to slip into a slight ‘despising’ of our parents wisdom or way or doing things.  “I’ll never turn out like my parents”, “I’ll never raise my kids like I was raised”, are all quotes we’ve either made or heard others say.  I have to ask myself, is this honoring my parents or in a little way, dishonoring or putting them down in a way that is not honoring to God?
 
I think of my mother far away in Canada, living on her own and know what a phone call means to her.  I can honor her so easily by getting on skype and just spending an hour chatting to her for such a little cost. It means so much to her to hear how we are doing and in a way, I believe, honors her.
 
I know of others with children overseas that regularly do a little ‘granny and grandpa email’ with pictures of the grandchildren and updates in their lives, just to include them in things that they can’t be a part of, I believe that is honoring.  It may take a few minutes of our time, but can mean so very much to them, to include them in our lives.
 
Your parents may have not been the best parents but that doesn’t negate the fact that we have a responsibility to love and honor them, no matter how they treated us.  
 
And I also understand that there are over-bearing parents out there, unable to almost function without daily contact and control over your life.  This too, needs work, boundaries put into place by you, as an adult so that you can to the best of your ability ‘live at peace with all men.’  Don’t throw up your hands in despair and say it’s impossible; pray for wisdom, ‘buy truth, and do not sell it.’
 
We can bring so much joy to our parents with often just a bit of effort on our part.
 
Scripture puts it so beautifully, ‘Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.”