What does honour your parents mean

When Jesus came to earth, He lived the example we are to follow. Jesus obeyed His parents Luke If God-made-man obeyed Joseph and Mary, we too should strive to honor our parents. Even those of us who have not known our maternal mothers and fathers have caregivers who have adopted us into their lives.

We honor them. We all look to those who have gone before us and done the best they knew to do. Whether we are children or adults, we are to honor our parents. Children are taught to honor their parents by the basic lesson of discipline and obedience, which in time blossoms into respect as we are able to see and experience the wisdom.

Eventually, we honor them out of love and trust, remembering how they have provided for us throughout our lives to the best of their human abilities in a very fallen world. Choosing to see the best in them, even after their time ends in this life, honors them. God repeats truths He wants us to pay specific attention to. The command to honor our father and mother is important to God, and so it must hold a high countenance in our hearts. When we ask Him for help, He is faithful.

They are guardrails and life preservers, not standards we must achieve and reach. They exist out of love, to help us live life to the full. The commandments show us the way to live, the way to love our neighbor, and the way to love God with all our heart and soul, according to this article from the Gospel Coalition.

One of the most powerful and ageless ways we can honor our parents, besides giving them our respect and obedience, is to choose to forgive forward. A valuable lesson to adhere to, as we will all watch ourselves make mistakes we swore we would never make. We all fall short Romans This article from the Gospel Coalition explores how it can be healthy to uncover the roots of our specific pains or weaknesses — biological, historical, or otherwise — but true healing will not finally come from identifying or assigning guilt, but from trusting God.

Choose to include parents and caregivers in everyday life. Nudge them towards becoming more involved in their church. Encourage them to share their wisdom or to disciple the younger men and women as they find more time on their hands during retirement. If your parents do not have a relationship with our Savior, you should be encouraging them to repent and give their lives to Christ.

Forgive your parents. One of the most important ways that you can honor your parents is to forgive them. Every parent makes mistakes in raising their children. I know that I have made my fair share of mistakes in raising my own children. No parent is perfect. All have made poor decisions at one time or another or have said or done things which have hurt us.

Let go of any bitterness or resentment and forgive them. If you are unable to forgive, you and your parents are unable to move forward. You will be stuck in the mire of anger and resentment, which is unhealthy for both of you. You can honor your parents by extending grace and forgiveness to them. So much of how we deal with and honor our parents comes down to pride. We have seen the worst of them and have seen them sin towards others and towards us. The Bible, however, is very clear that the way we treat our parents has significant consequences, not only for our life on earth,but our spiritual life, as well.

Tell them the truth. As uncomfortable as it may be to tell them the truth, it is extremely important that children never lie to their parents. Relationships cannot thrive if they are built on a bed of lies.

If you have lied to your parents confess the truth to them and ask them to forgive you. There are few things that can honor your parents more than telling them the truth. Take care of your parents. In Mark Jesus deals a strong rebuke of the Pharisees. He accuses them of using their religion as an excuse for not taking care of their parents.

In fact Jesus will accuse them over and over of setting up a religion that hurts the elderly, especially widows. Paul maintains that we are worse than an unbeliever when we do not take care of our parents. Taking care of your parents can be as simple as driving or accompanying them to Dr. As our parents age, sadly there are those that look for every opportunity to take advantage of them.

The Bible calls Christians to be set apart and to feel honor for the opportunity to care for our parents. We are called to show honor to them by helping them in their last days on earth.

If you are currently helping your parents, know this: the Lord is pleased with you and you are a great example to those around you especially YOUR children who one day may need to take care of you.

Talk Well of Them Publicly and Privately. Finally, you can honor your parents by how you speak of them privately and to others. We can give such high regard in a one-on-one conversation or or in how we talk about our parents to others. Consider writing a formal tribute to your parents and read it aloud for them. Can you imagine the impact that would have on your parents? What greater joy could there be for a parent than to hear your gratitude and love? How do you honor your parents?

What would you add to this list? When we turn to God through Christ daily, through Scripture and prayer, we do often find the strength to accomplish things beyond our capabilities. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. James wrote that faith without works is dead. We are saved by grace, but our lives illustrate our trust in God. We honor our parents because God is good, and the commands and guardrails He puts in our lives are out of His love and care for us. Paul wrote we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

The Bible reminds us when we seek Him with all of our hearts we will find him. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Through Christ, we can rely on the conviction of the Holy Spirit to alert us, and depend on the forgiveness and mercy of God when we fail and fall short. Romans The fallen world full of sin we live in yields easily to the betrayal of trust we place in our parents.

Abuse runs rampant in our world. Clearly, this grieves the heart of God. Though Scripture is clear about honoring our parents, it does not in any way command us to stay in harm's way. Jesus commanded us to love one another. There are no exceptions to this command to love, even concerning enemies and abusers. Honoring abusive parents is a heart issue, not a toleration of abusive behavior. The call to build up and nurture our children is the responsibility of both parents or caretakers and single parents as well!

Training up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is the key to producing honor within their hearts Proverbs Therefore, parents have the unique privilege to model respect and love to their children and to provide security in their identity. Additionally, with the breakdown of the family, and hundreds if not thousands of children being removed from their homes daily, we have a nation of children and adults who have no idea what honor even means.

Sometimes honoring parents means speaking hard truths to bring about great change. How does a man like Jimmy Hinton, who discovered his father had been abusing children for 40 years, show honor to his parent? Some believe that to honor parents we can never say a negative word about them.

Yet the most honoring thing Jimmy could have done was to call the police and do just that. Sometimes honoring parents means creating distance to heal so you can live a life of virtue. Yesterday was a difficult day for a friend of mine.