FAMILY, PARENTS AND CHILDREN

The Bible speaks about the children as a “gift” of God, entrusted to the care of the parents for their nurture, nourishment and wholesome growth.

The children on their part are exhorted to be obedient to the parents. Honouring or respecting our parents is not only a command repeated many times over, but also is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments. This itself is an evidence for the significance of the command.

Honouring the parents is the only command in the Ten Commandments which has a blessing attached. Not that other commands doesn’t bring any blessing.

The family set-up as instituted by God is such, that a child will become a parent. The parent himself or herself is a child to their parents all their lives. This, if taken as intended, will bring the much needed and oft missed balance of perspective.

Therefore, we are all children, almost our entire lives, even though we become parents at some point of time. Let us then honour our parents, as the LORD commands in Exodus 20:12 – “12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”