The Fifth Commandment

"Honor your father and your mother

that your days may be long upon the land

which the Lord your God is giving to you."

I looked up the word "honor" online to see what it meant in the original Hebrew, and I was surprised by what I found. It is a word defined by heaviness. The lexicons give us the understanding that to honor means to make heavy or, I believe, give weight to.

In many ways, we live in a societal culture defined in the Proverbs as a generation that hates its father and curses its mother. The government has slowly but surely stripped away the vestiges of parental authority, leaving mom and dad whimpering over their three year old brat whom they cannot control, "I just don't know what to do!" Kids find it easier to despise their sniveling parents than to give weight to anything they say or do. It's high time parents quit looking to the government and society for parenting guidelines and return to the word of God for their instructions. The most important thing mom and dad can do for their kids is to raise them in the training and admonition of the Lord, for if you raise up a child in the way they should go, when they are old they won't depart from it. Nourish them, disciple them, and when necessary, discipline them. Give them something to respect!

The concept of honoring ones parents is more than just a child's obedience. It is listening to them at all stages in life and learning from their wisdom and experience, and the wisdom handed down to them from their parents. Imagine the knowledge and understanding we would have amassed if each generation passed on what it had learned to a generation willing to learn it. To honor them is to glorify them for who they are, to hold them up and bear their weightiness, to give heed to what they say, even when you don't agree.

Of course, this works best when parents are believers, serving the Lord with all their hearts. When a child believes and their parents do not, it is difficult and sometimes dangerous to follow the bidding of the unbeliever. But weight must still be given to them in their role as father and mother, the ones who presented you with the gift of life that came from God. To honor means to love and respect, and not necessarily because they deserve it--we are to honor them because it is the will of God.

And we are to honor them as long as we draw breath. Obedience to the fifth commandment does not end with personal emancipation from the support of your parents. Mom and Dad must always be honored, just as we honor our Father in heaven.