Exodus 20:12 - The Fifth Point on our Spiritual Measuring Stick

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

Have you been re-evaluating yourself this year? Have you been challenging yourself and seeing where you really are spiritually, mentally, and physically?  Many people decided that this year they would be getting in shape, and yes, I was one of them. Like many self-resolutions, it started off strong, but as time has progressed I am not finding the time to go running that I need to stay physically fit, just like hundreds of others. Are our spiritual resolutions still going strong or are they falling to the wayside like my resolution to get back into shape?

This week we look at the 5th commandment to see how we compare to it and hopefully find where we are in our spiritual life.  We are commanded to honor our parents, and again on the surface this seems fairly easy. Of course we honor our parents, after all we do love them!  Well, not necessarily.  If you look up “honor” in Webster's Dictionary, you will see that firstly it is defined as a “good name or public esteem” and refers to the reputation of the person. Do we hold up our parent's good name and public reputation? Or do we complain about our parents to people? Do we post things on our social media websites that talk about how great our parents are or do we complain to the world? Do we show respect tinged with awe for our parents and how they have taken care of us or do we take their attention and care for granted?  Are we a source of credit and distinction for our parents, bringing respect for them from all who see us, or do people see us and our behavior and pity our parents? Are we really honoring them or just giving lip service?

Honor is a tricky thing, it really is especially since everyone seems to have a different idea about what is involved in honoring someone. We may not be throwing parades for dear Mom and Dad, but do we live and interact with them in a way that makes them proud of being our parents?

I am certain that we could all work a little better at honoring our parents. How we honor and treat our parents flows over into other aspects of our lives. It pours over into how we take care of ourselves, and then flows even further into how we interact with older folk who are not our parents, and then into how we interact with everyone. Of course, how we honor our parents comes straight from how we interact with God, so in a way honoring our parents shows our relationship with God as well.

This week, then, lets make a better effort to honor our parents and show the world how awesome they are. I know my parents are pretty amazing, how about yours?  Oh, and did you notice that this commandment has its own special promise? Yep, it does! Take a look and think about that as well! So lets draw closer to God through how we honor and respect our parents and the people around us.

Draw me closer, Lord, to Thee,
Fold me in Thy love’s embrace,
And unto my soul reveal
All the riches of Thy grace.
Draw me closer, closer, closer,
Closer, Lord, to Thee;
Ever purer, purer, purer
Then my soul shall be.
                      ^{Eli­sha A. Hof­fman, 1898.}