Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “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.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4 NIV
We look across the generational divide, and we know this: No parent is perfect. No child is perfect. Painful truth.
Yet we are to honor. When we are young, we are to obey.
Did you ever notice how much of the New Testament is written to people who have little or no power?
And God calls on us to use our lack of power as a tool of influence—not through uprisings and revolts—but by quietly winning over those who do have the power.
But I digress.
Of course there are evil and abusive parents, and children who need to be protected from them; there are misguided social justice warriors who want to “protect” children from good parents—the whole thing is muddled.
But I’ll stick to the main course and say this: Learning to honor my parents is one of the main ways in which I have grown as a person. Learning to embrace their humanity, see beyond their imperfections, and comprehend what a gift from God they were to me—all of this has helped me land in a settled place where I can be patient with my own shortcomings, and find ways to respect those around me.
Dwight
PS. On 5/25/2019 our Inner Wealth topic will be how to overcome guilt, shame, and condemnation. Since many people don’t understand the difference between true and false guilt, and the very different strategies we use to resolve each, we’ll be explaining that in detail.
