Admittedly, this can be a troublesome verse in today’s world. There are so many parents who are not doing right by their children. I was a product of a broken home myself, and I’m sad to say my first marriage resulted in one. Neither my parents nor my first marriage were honoring God, so it’s no surprise that they failed… However, it’s the children of an unhappy and/or broken marriage that always suffer the most – which is totally unfair.
After God saved me, and I started learning about what a good Father looked like, my previous shortcomings were truly heartbreaking. Of course, by then the damage was done. Because of all this, I struggled both as a parent undeserving of honor myself, and as a child with parents that I often felt were not deserving of honor.
Why am I expected to honor a parent that doesn’t deserve it? For the same reason I’m expected to forgive a person that doesn’t deserve forgiveness.
This is an internal issue – not forgiving someone affects me even more than it affects the one I don’t forgive. Not honoring my parent affects me in the same way. This is not a question of what is ‘fair’. There are plenty of examples of life not being ‘fair’. But we must be careful with this line of reasoning, for the fact that any of us are still breathing and not burning in everlasting torment isn’t ‘fair’ either!
Honor your father and mother – not because they’ve “earned it”, but because when you show deference and honor to those who gave life to you (God, Father, Mother), it’s an opportunity for you to be the person that your Father in heaven wants you to be.
#LoveMatters