By Elder Tim White
“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee”, Exodus 20:12. With Mother’s Day coming up, I thought I would look at what God had to say about the family. Family had to be important to God because it was the first institution that he established. Before government or the church came the family. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”, Genesis 2:24. There in the Garden of Eden, God established man and wife, the nucleus of the family unit.
“The family is the basic unit of society; the very foundation of society. If honor and respect control the behavior of the family, it will help to control the behavior of our communities and society. God wants honor and respect to be the prevailing force flowing out from the hearts of people to one another. God knows: if we honor and respect one another, then peace and love will prevail upon the earth, if we honor and respect one another, then the behavior of men will be controlled, if we honor and respect one another, there will be no lawlessness and selfishness. There will be only honor and respect for all people—for all the parents and children of the earth”. (The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible).
William Barclay makes this point that should stir us to keep this commandment, to always honor our parents: “To honour our parents is a matter of common sense. They have walked the journey of life before us, and therefore they know the dangers and the pitfalls in the way. If you are going on a journey through what is to you an unknown country, a map and a guide-book will be very useful, but most useful of all will be the advice and the experience of one who has already travelled that way. When parents advise their child to do or not to do something, he should understand that it is not because they wish to show their authority, because they are killjoys, or because they are old-fashioned, it is because out of their experience they know that the thing is right or wrong, safe or dangerous”. “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother”, Proverbs 1:8.
The Bible teaches each of us because we have all been children, to honor or respect our parents. Let’s rekindle an honor and respectful attitude among our families. As Christians, we need to heed the admonishment in Hebrews 13:1, “Let brotherly love continue”. That covers families too. Happy Mother’s Day!
