Serving Kids, Honoring Parents, Building the Kingdom
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1–4 ESV Read More
This is a great verse to tell your kids while you’re shaking your finger at them. NO!
This is a great verse to ponder with them when there is peace and stability in the house.
Why would God put such importance on kids honoring their parents? What does that mean?
What importance does God put on the parent/child relationship that of all of the commandments, this would be the first one with a promise of blessing coming as the result of doing it? (And when kids memorize the ten commandments, why don’t they memorize the promise with it?)
Although family structures differ across cultures, the mother, father, child structure is as universal as gravity. Kids without parents or adults without kids all find a richer life when they find and serve someone in that manner.
If it seems unclear as to why Paul is talking about this, take out a big pink eraser and get rid of the big number 6 that appears before this section in your Bible. This is another practical example of the end of Ephesians 5: Serve one another out of reverence for Christ. That explains why you can’t shake your finger and boss our kids around to do this. This honor comes as the result of teaching your kids reverence for Christ.
Like so many other ‘rules’ in the New Testament, it is easy to take them out of the greater context and create a new law. May we never do such a thing! With the Holy Spirit in us, we are constantly being made into a new kind of people that do things in a new kind of way. One of those new ways of doing things is to look at our parents through the sacrifice and love of Christ. Since we revere Him, we obey and honor our parents.
In the same way, Dads, we look at our kids and what we want to accomplish in the house through the eyes of Christ. Whenever we go on a trip, I always say “Whoever takes the least will have the most fun.” With the subtle thought in my head that I am taking all of them! Whatever trip we are going on isn’t about me, it’s about them! That’s why I am taking them!
Eventually, that kind of thinking trickles out of the vacation life and into daily life. A friend of mine said that his ministry at this point in life is to launch his kids into being the best adults they can be. That is a good mindset and a great way to see what Jesus is doing in your whole family. You won’t have to look for ways to not provoke them to anger if you are serving and loving them up into adults in the Lord.
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