In taking a fresh look at the 5th commandment, Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you,” this commandment is an instruction with a promise: If you, then God will. We have no way of measuring the consequences of disregarding this commandment throughout the history of mankind; however, we don’t have to look far to find broken hearts, injuries, deaths, addictions, estrangements, unplanned and life-altering events, regret, sorrow, and the likes. These are all immeasurable consequences for disregarding our Creator’s Authority over our lives.
It has been said of old that “God said it; I believe it; that settles it.” The better way of speaking this Truth is that “God said it; that settles it.” Whether we choose to believe God’s Word or not doesn’t negate its Truthfulness. We have His assurance that His Word accomplishes what He desires. Isaiah 55:11: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Would we not be wise in our parenting to put His Word before our children and to make them aware of His instruction?
The Bible is a powerful tool of Truth to share with our children and its potential impact to affect the choices they make in life. Do our children know what God’s Word has to say about their relationship with their parents, civil authorities, and with Him? Do they know that God’s design for sex is for the marriage relationship only? Do they know that the only way to go to heaven when we die is through the shed blood of Jesus? Do they know that it is God and God only that will supply “all” of our needs? Do they know that our hope is in a Sovereign God who sits on His Throne in full authority over all the earth? Do they know that the air we breathe is a gift from Him and that we are each “fearfully and wonderfully made”? Am I as a parent reminding them of these Truths faithfully?
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
Ephesians 6:1
Would it not benefit us and our children for us all to prayerfully consider God’s Word in navigating life choices? “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work” (1 Timothy 3:16-17). “Every good work” used in this context implies that the “only good” work is obedience to His Word. Everything else is vanity.
Spoken by the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon declared that life apart from God is vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Parents are given authority by God to parent, and children are given instruction by God to obey. The parent who is humbled before God knows to use their authority alongside their children as opposed to “over” their children. It is most excellent to know what the Bible says.
