Honour

“Honour your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise If you honour your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

Ephesians 6:2-3 (NLT)

We should do what God tells us to do whether we get an attractive promise attached to His commandments or not. Yet in this case we do. We should honour our parents for their own sakes, yet if we do so there's a nice result from doing so.

Our parents bring us into the world. It's worth saying that not all parents are honourable. Some are neglectful and even abusive. Still, we shouldn't dishonour them.

As a general rule, if we honour our parents, things will go well for us, and we'll have good lives. It's not guaranteed, but that's what tends to happen. I'm sure the opposite is true too.

If we dishonour our parents and bring shame upon them, we're less likely to have a good long life. Once again, we should honour our parents for their own sakes. Yet it's a happy side effect that we get to have good lives if we're good to some of the most important people in our lives.

'Father in heaven, please help us to honour our parents, and so to have good lives. For Your glory, amen'

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