Honor your father and mother (2)

 

 We mentioned in the last article that we will talk about how to honor your father and mother. What is the meaning of honoring? Do we obey them, provide for their needs or respect them? Honoring the parents is one of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses for His people. To understand the this command we have to understand what the word honor means.

what the word honor means?

 I searched the meaning of the word in Hebrew, Greek and English dictionary . It means; respect, value and revere. Through my Christian counseling I found that it is very easy for the sons and daughters, especially nowadays, to disrespect their parents and forget that they have looked after them and raised them to be who they are. It is evident now that the children rebel against the instructions of their parents. Some of them even express shame to some of the parent’s behavior for no apparent reason in some incidence.  The bible repeats this command "Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father" {Le 19:3} the bible forbid us from insulting our parents for the punishment of this sin required death in the Old Testament "For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him." {Le20:9} through my counseling I found that the person who have not insulted his parents will be blessed. This is very true. Respecting the parents and providing for their needs is a must. They gave you their best and you should too. Insulting the parents is a sin in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ and it needs to repentance and apologies.

The obedient of the children to their parents

Children should obey their parents in the Lord "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" {Eph6:1} the children have to obey their parents in the Lord. Parents should not teach their children lies at early age, for example do not tell your child to answer the telephone and tell some one that you are not home and you are. This is a lie. Please raise your child to honor God's commandments when they are young. I hope parents teach their children also respect from early age and not at older age because it will be hard to do. We will write about, how to raise a child in Godly manners in the future.

Should adults obey their parents?

As for adults they should obey their parents within the truth of the Bible. The bible commands the children to obey the parents. If your parents give you a command contrary to the Bible do not regard it at all. The Bible mention in chapter four, the gospel of St. Luke that Adam was the son of God. God did not stop Adam and Eve from eating the forbidden fruit. God gave them a free will to chose right or wrong. Parents have to learn this lesson from the best and supreme Father in the whole creation, the heavenly Father. That is to give their sons and daughters the free will in making decisions in their lives. Absolute obedience has to be to the word of God only. And I say this again that absolute obedience has to be the word of God only. If your parents give an advise that will separate you from what the Bible says, then you do not listen to their advise. If the mother give advise to her son that will separate him from his wife, remember what the Bible says “a man leaves his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become on flesh”

Knowing God's word

Any Christian has to honor the Bible above anything else. That is why in all my writing I encourage everyone to read and study the Bible every day to know the following:

 

1- You will know what the bible says about (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) when you read the Bible you will know more a bout God "For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." {1Co2:10} you will know who is the heavenly Father and what is His role in your life. Every prayers should be submitted to the father in Jesus Name. you will also know your savoir Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for your sake. How He saved you with His precious blood. Gave you His grace which with it you can overcome the sin. He gave you His righteousness free of charge which through it you can stand before the throne of God blameless in His love. And also you will know the work of Holy Spirit in your life and why Jesus Christ said "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you" {Joh 16:7} for the Holy Spirit is your advocate who defend you and He is also your intercessor. "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God". {Ro8: 26,27}

when you read the Bible you will know who you are in Christ and know His promises to you. If you have a burning desire to know the truth of God, He is faithful and He will reveal Himself to you. This is the desire of His heart, for you to know the truth for the truth will set you free.

 

2-you will know what is your obligation as a Christian. You will know what is required by you to live a life full of God’s blessings. Many of us live a life not inspired and guided by the boundaries of the Bible. One of them is honoring your parents which means respect, revere, valuing and providing for them. Absolute obedience is to be for the Bible firstly and lastly.

I hear that some sons and daughters insult their parents to the point of cursing them. This is a mistake and it will bring a curse upon the sons and daughters and it requires a repentance and apology to the parents, if parents had passed away you ought to repent to the Lord Jesus Christ.

What if I, as an adult, do not agree with the opinion of my parents? My advice is:

Do not reject the parent’s advice to start with, for this is wisdom. The parents are one of the people who love you most. They do not want to harm their children. Their opinion may be wrong but their advice is coming out of a loving heart. The mother could advise her son to be harsh with his wife and do not regard her opinions, but this could be because of her blind love to her son. The son should not accept this advice because this is contrary to the word of God which says that the man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. Also in Ephesians chapter 5 states that the man should love his wife as his own body. Out of blind love, the mother may encourage her daughter to disobey her husband, but the wife should never listen to her mother’s advice because the Bible commands the wife to submit to her husband.

What if the husband do not fight for the peace of his family?

As general rule we ought to respect the opinion of everyone, but we are not required to apply it in our lives. Personally I ask many of the people, whom I know they love me, for their opinions in many issues. I listen to their opinions and take these opinions to see if it is in agreement with the Bible or not. If it is in agreement with the Bible and I feel at peace in prayers then I will consider them. If their opinions do not agree with the word of God then I will say; thank you, but your opinion do not agree with the Bible.

True story

When I was visiting a country, I knew the priest of this church and he asked me to intervene of this problem. There was a woman who is married to a man and now she is separated from him and she took her children with her and know she is staying with her father. The priest tried to reconcile them together but she totally refused. I asked the priest few question to understand the problem and I knew the story, it goes like this: she has a very good position and her mother in-law tells her son to prove he is a man, he has to beat her if she does any thing wrong. The wife is fed up of her husband beating her and she does not need him financially and she had a place with her father to accommodate her and her children. I asked the priest, what makes her go back to this abusive husband? The Bible says " Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife" {1Co7: 10,11} why an educated woman accepts to live like any Muslim woman where she is beaten every week or two. I said let the husband ruin his life with the advise of his mother.

The question I want to ask every Christian husband is; why you apply the Islamic teaching which teach the husband to honor his mother and the father above the wife by far. Why you apply the Islamic teaching which says the pleasing the mother is equal of pleasing the Lord Himself. That is totally wrong and is contrarily to the teaching of the Bible.  

The intelligent person

The intelligent person is the one who benefits from the experience of others, even if they are strangers, how much more if they are the parents, even if they are uneducated. Some of the most valuable advices I have learned were from people who have limited education, but they have a close relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. (Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. these things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.) {1Co2:12,13} in the next article we will compare spiritual things with spiritual that we may understand how to honor the Bible, which commands the man to leave his parents and be joined to his wife and the two become one flesh. And the wife to forget her own people and submit to her husband.

Does this disagree with the command of honoring your parents?........ to be continued.