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Honor Your Father and Mother...

Exodus 20:12 says "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

This verse seems to be popular among parents of teenagers! Sometimes this is a bad thing because they use the verse to try to get the teen to obey them even though the parent may not be deserving of this. Even though this verse obviously says that children need to obey their parents there are also verses that speak to how the parents should be treating their children. Verses like Ephesians 6:4 "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

These are important things to remember as we look further at this verse.

Should We Always Honor Our Parents?

The first question that comes to my mind when I read this verse is "what if the parents are asking the child to do something wrong?" I don't think this scripture is meaning to say that you should honor your father and mother no matter what. We need to be checking everything against what the Bible says and what Gods principles mean. We need to honor our parents, but it is more important that we honor God. If our parents ask us to do something that is against Gods laws or principles then we should honor God before out parents. 

This does not mean that we should treat our parents badly if they ask us to do something that is wrong, but we do need to set very clear boundaries. Parents need to know that they are second in command and if they are violating Gods principles then they will not be honored. 

For Parents

Here are some Biblical principles that parents need to remember when thinking about verses like this.

• Be sure that you don't ask your children to do something that goes against God. You have a serious responsibility to bring up your children to know Jesus, this starts with knowing Him yourself.
• Be honorable yourself. If you are not someone who is honorable, then how could your children honor you? Learn Gods principles and follow them. In this way you will be someone who will be easy to honor.
• Raise your children to respect and follow God. You can't expect honor when you don't raise your children up to know what honor is. You can't expect them to follow the principles in the Bible if you don't teach them to do so.

For Children

Here are some things for the children to think about.

• You are responsible to learn about Jesus and follow His principles no matter what you were taught by your parents. When children are young all they know is what their parents teach them. As they get older they become responsible for themselves. 
• Honor Godly parents. Even when you don't want to, even when you don't feel like it. They are more experienced and have a lot of knowledge. Most likely they have been in the same situation that you are in and they have some good advice about it. 
• Go out of your way to honor Godly parents. It is very hard to be a Godly person with all the temptations that are out there. Parents who have stayed true to God are people who are worth honoring. Go out of your way to do just that.

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