Nougat 5

There is a school of thought that says the first four commandments are relational, teaching us about honouring God and family. I agree, as the commandments that follow are exceptionally brief. Our focus is now on the 4th commandment, as we consider Today’s Holy Nougat

Exodus 20:12 NLT

[12] “Honour your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Longevity Through Honour

This is a difficult commandment to grasp on some ways. The Hebrew term for honour actually speaks to according weight (status), which I presume is the gravity of glory. To honour our parents, therefore, requires that we ascribe the gravity to their status that derives from conceiving a child. In an era where child-mortality was high, the ability to conceive carried extreme importance – more so than today. In that regard, honouring one’s parents is about affirming their role as parents.

Self-Check

– How readily do we honour our parents?

– Do we see it as a way to worship God?

Application

The inclusion of a caveat, ‘for long, full life in the land established for you’; or, as Ephesians summarises, ‘that we may live long on the earth’, suggests to me that relationships between parents and children might not have been perfect. More so, it assures us that God knows there’s potential for fractures in the basic family unit. Yet, God says, give parents the glory due to them.

As believers who may have prayed the Lord’s Prayer at some point in our lives, we may recall it begins with an affirmation of God as ‘father’. Could it be that honouring or parents is also a reminder to us of God as the supreme parent? And, if we honour those whom we can see (earthly parents), then it becomes easier to honour God, our divine Parent, Whose decisions won’t always look like what we expect?

For those of us whose parents did wrong, for those of us who are estranged from our parents, for those of us challenged by this commandment – might we try for being respectful, and thanking God that they conceived us? I also propose that we ask God to show us little things for which we can ascribe weight to them.

For us whose parents are the awesome people they ought to be, let’s begin by giving God thanks for them. Let’s live them and live on them beyond their expectations.

Whichever category our parents fall in, one of the best ways to honour our parents while honouring God is to live a life that invites others to know God for themselves. I believe it’s a worthwhile consideration.

Assignment

Let’s dedicate the rest of our lives to honouring God and our parents by living the best life of faith in all we do

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May all we seek be found in Christ