For this is JUST and RIGHT....
Ephesians 6: 1-4 (Amplified Bible)
"CHILDREN, OBEY your parents in the Lord [as His representatives], for this is just and right. Honor (esteem and value as precious) your father and your mother--this is the first commandment with a promise--That all may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth".
"CHILDREN, OBEY your parents in the Lord [as His representatives], for this is just and right. Honor (esteem and value as precious) your father and your mother--this is the first commandment with a promise--That all may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth".
To be completely honest, there is nothing uglier or more disgusting to me then to see an ADULT Christian be rude, short, ugly, demeaning or verbally abusive to their parents...who are also Christians.
This post is mainly to the believer and the believer's believing parents.
Did that make sense? ha
This is for the adult child that was raised in a non-perfect Christian home by non-perfect Christian parents that did not cause life long heartache or abuse.
With that said, I have much to share with you. I love the above portion of scripture. I will never forget the first time Dr. Steve shared with us, at a college retreat, about how until we are married that we are under our parents authority and called to still obey them which as we grow becomes respect and then honor but we are called to always HONOR our Father and Mother even after marriage.
28, single, still have to obey your parents? That may be daunting to some but as you grow up mutual respect is formed between young adult and parent.....and advice or guidance is welcomed.
Now with this Eph 6 scripture I could easily get into rebellion and those children that turn into young people that refuse to obey this command God has given us, make bad decision after bad decision, live in the heartache of it and then turn and blame their stupidity on their parents.......but I won't due to time.
God has been making my focus, with Eph 6, on the heart side of what it means to honor our parents. What is means to obey. I find that "In the Lord" is probably the most powerful words in this portion of scripture. For me, "in the Lord" implies that the believer child (adult) is yielded to God and his/her actions, reactions are under His authority......and because of this submission we are able to truly honor our parents and honor God.
But the reality is that as believers, our parents can bring out our ugliest sides. Not always provoked by them......we can lash out because we know we can get away with it.
A daughter/son that talks to their mother/father as though they are stupid, in the way, or a moron is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE TO GOD!!!!!
COMPLETELY!
The daughter/son that takes and takes from their parents expecting them to do everything for them even though they are an adult and have a job....making demands...still refusing to grow up...is NOT ACCEPTABLE TO GOD!
Lashing out at our parents because WE FEEL OUT OF CONTROL is UNACCEPTABLE TO GOD!
Using our words to cut, hurt, and imprison our parents because of our hurting hearts, or feelings of inadequacy....is NOT ACCEPTABLE TO GOD!
"Children obey your parents, in the Lord, FOR THIS IS RIGHT!"
This post is mainly to the believer and the believer's believing parents.
Did that make sense? ha
This is for the adult child that was raised in a non-perfect Christian home by non-perfect Christian parents that did not cause life long heartache or abuse.
With that said, I have much to share with you. I love the above portion of scripture. I will never forget the first time Dr. Steve shared with us, at a college retreat, about how until we are married that we are under our parents authority and called to still obey them which as we grow becomes respect and then honor but we are called to always HONOR our Father and Mother even after marriage.
28, single, still have to obey your parents? That may be daunting to some but as you grow up mutual respect is formed between young adult and parent.....and advice or guidance is welcomed.
Now with this Eph 6 scripture I could easily get into rebellion and those children that turn into young people that refuse to obey this command God has given us, make bad decision after bad decision, live in the heartache of it and then turn and blame their stupidity on their parents.......but I won't due to time.
God has been making my focus, with Eph 6, on the heart side of what it means to honor our parents. What is means to obey. I find that "In the Lord" is probably the most powerful words in this portion of scripture. For me, "in the Lord" implies that the believer child (adult) is yielded to God and his/her actions, reactions are under His authority......and because of this submission we are able to truly honor our parents and honor God.
But the reality is that as believers, our parents can bring out our ugliest sides. Not always provoked by them......we can lash out because we know we can get away with it.
A daughter/son that talks to their mother/father as though they are stupid, in the way, or a moron is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE TO GOD!!!!!
COMPLETELY!
The daughter/son that takes and takes from their parents expecting them to do everything for them even though they are an adult and have a job....making demands...still refusing to grow up...is NOT ACCEPTABLE TO GOD!
Lashing out at our parents because WE FEEL OUT OF CONTROL is UNACCEPTABLE TO GOD!
Using our words to cut, hurt, and imprison our parents because of our hurting hearts, or feelings of inadequacy....is NOT ACCEPTABLE TO GOD!
"Children obey your parents, in the Lord, FOR THIS IS RIGHT!"
HONOR your Father and Mother............which is the first commandment with a promise!
I think what happens many times with our growth and walk with God is that we learn how to be kind, merciful, loving, SELF CONTROLLED...all the fruits of the Spirit with our friends, co-workers, church people, and those that do not believe....then we go home for the weekend or we stop by the parent's house or we talk to them on the phone and we morph back into a child.....because we have yet to change from obey to honor/respect with our parents. We are adults still trying to be rebellious in obeying them when God's word says it is now time to learn to honor them.....which is the first commandment WITH A PROMISE- "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
This speaks to me too. I use to take my frustration and ugliness out on my mom. When I felt out of control dealing with a situation..instead of praying about it I just dumped it all out on her.
Now I was in high school/college during those days. I can remember in my early years of teaching and really growing in God when I would be so proud and thankful to God that I could be the same "Caroline" at home with my parents as I was with every one else.
FOR ME THAT WAS EVERYTHING! Because I NEED to SUBMIT to God's authority and charge over my life EVERY MORNING. I need to be yielded to Him not matter what is going on or what stress is around me. My actions, thoughts and reactions must be under the control of the Holy Spirit so that I can truly enjoy God. Enjoy the people He has given me. Enjoy life...enjoy the JOY of THE LORD in my life.
So dear friend...easily irritated by every word your mother/father speaks????....you better run to the Lord fast and beg Him to heal up what is broke in your heart towards your parents. A heart problem is present and God needs to set you free from it.
We can't control them...but we can control our choice to trust God or not.
The most interesting thing out all of this is that the child that refused to obey is now the ADULT child that refuses to honor. They are not enjoying life, they do not enjoy the gift of parents and I can almost bet that they really struggle with obeying and honoring God.
Because you see, everything we learn as children...obeying our parents, teachers.....is about God. All those lessons that our parents took the time to teach us or in force was for our good. I can obey God with a joyful heart because my parents taught me that obeying is beneficial and obeying brings blessing and not always heartache.
I learned that because I was taught how to obey and chose to obey that my walk with God grew and grew. I honor my parents and I can honor my God....both are pleasing in His sight.
So now to the Adult (child) that does not honor their mom or dad with actions or words....shame on you. Your behavior is not biblical and till it is dealt with it will bring you even more heartache.
To those that feel like your missing something with your relationship with God....check your relationship with your parents....Do they get all your ugliness while the world gets all your prettiness?
To those not raised by believer parents...God calls you to honor them anyway. I know that will not be easy for many....but can you imagine the love that pours out of God as He looks down and sees you honoring them. What delight that will bring Him as you chose to be HIS light to them. Do not give up praying for their salvation!!!! DO NOT!
To those that have absolutely NO EXCUSE to why you treat your parents like crap.....I pray that God would give you a great desire to ask for forgiveness and a great desire to be changed so that you bless your family not curse them.
Lastly, we have this one life. For me, I don't want anything standing in the way of doing God's will and living a wild life in Him. These commandments that He gives us are not to cage us in but to set us free.
Being under the control of God each day frees us up to be everything He wants us to be and none of the ugliness.......none of the stuff we really are.
At the end of the day..our parents are our brother's and sister's in Christ. WE must start treating them as such and stop being rude! Let us bring GOD GREAT DELIGHT as we freely delight in HIM!
I think what happens many times with our growth and walk with God is that we learn how to be kind, merciful, loving, SELF CONTROLLED...all the fruits of the Spirit with our friends, co-workers, church people, and those that do not believe....then we go home for the weekend or we stop by the parent's house or we talk to them on the phone and we morph back into a child.....because we have yet to change from obey to honor/respect with our parents. We are adults still trying to be rebellious in obeying them when God's word says it is now time to learn to honor them.....which is the first commandment WITH A PROMISE- "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
This speaks to me too. I use to take my frustration and ugliness out on my mom. When I felt out of control dealing with a situation..instead of praying about it I just dumped it all out on her.
Now I was in high school/college during those days. I can remember in my early years of teaching and really growing in God when I would be so proud and thankful to God that I could be the same "Caroline" at home with my parents as I was with every one else.
FOR ME THAT WAS EVERYTHING! Because I NEED to SUBMIT to God's authority and charge over my life EVERY MORNING. I need to be yielded to Him not matter what is going on or what stress is around me. My actions, thoughts and reactions must be under the control of the Holy Spirit so that I can truly enjoy God. Enjoy the people He has given me. Enjoy life...enjoy the JOY of THE LORD in my life.
So dear friend...easily irritated by every word your mother/father speaks????....you better run to the Lord fast and beg Him to heal up what is broke in your heart towards your parents. A heart problem is present and God needs to set you free from it.
We can't control them...but we can control our choice to trust God or not.
The most interesting thing out all of this is that the child that refused to obey is now the ADULT child that refuses to honor. They are not enjoying life, they do not enjoy the gift of parents and I can almost bet that they really struggle with obeying and honoring God.
Because you see, everything we learn as children...obeying our parents, teachers.....is about God. All those lessons that our parents took the time to teach us or in force was for our good. I can obey God with a joyful heart because my parents taught me that obeying is beneficial and obeying brings blessing and not always heartache.
I learned that because I was taught how to obey and chose to obey that my walk with God grew and grew. I honor my parents and I can honor my God....both are pleasing in His sight.
So now to the Adult (child) that does not honor their mom or dad with actions or words....shame on you. Your behavior is not biblical and till it is dealt with it will bring you even more heartache.
To those that feel like your missing something with your relationship with God....check your relationship with your parents....Do they get all your ugliness while the world gets all your prettiness?
To those not raised by believer parents...God calls you to honor them anyway. I know that will not be easy for many....but can you imagine the love that pours out of God as He looks down and sees you honoring them. What delight that will bring Him as you chose to be HIS light to them. Do not give up praying for their salvation!!!! DO NOT!
To those that have absolutely NO EXCUSE to why you treat your parents like crap.....I pray that God would give you a great desire to ask for forgiveness and a great desire to be changed so that you bless your family not curse them.
Lastly, we have this one life. For me, I don't want anything standing in the way of doing God's will and living a wild life in Him. These commandments that He gives us are not to cage us in but to set us free.
Being under the control of God each day frees us up to be everything He wants us to be and none of the ugliness.......none of the stuff we really are.
At the end of the day..our parents are our brother's and sister's in Christ. WE must start treating them as such and stop being rude! Let us bring GOD GREAT DELIGHT as we freely delight in HIM!
Lord, teach us to grow up. Teach us to shut up. Teach us to stop thinking we are better or smarter than our parents. Teach us to have clean and pure hearts.........this life is about you...not our parents.....so set us free from our ugly attitudes towards them. Let us live freely in you and let us bless others. Set us free from being labeled "the drama child"....the adult child that the entire family cringes to see because drama, selfishness, ugliness follows their every move. CHANGE US! How can we be lights to a dark world when we are so mean to the lights around us. Let us not be ok with our hurt....let us seek only you to heal us. It is time for us to grow up and GET OVER IT! So we turn to you and you alone. SET US FREE so that we can do YOUR BEAUTIFUL WILL!
I love you Father, I thank you that you are NEVER ok with our disobedience. Thank you that you chase us down and love us still. You are WORTHY. WORTHY of everything! I will not back down from change. Make us BETTER in Jesus Name!! Amen!