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Ten Commandments (5)
The Ten Commandments (5)
The fifth commandment is “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Exod. 20:12). Later in the book, Moses wrote, “And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death” (Exod. 21:17).
Broken families have become commonplace in 21st century America. Children are viewed as disposable because they interfere with the parent’s plans for their lives. Parenthood requires a whole lot more than the act of conception. Fathers who father children and walk away never to be involved in their children’s lives cannot be honored and respected. Parents who abuse their children make it impossible for the children to honor them. There are no perfect parents and no perfect children, but when love is exists in the home, it is the most beautiful of human relationships.
Rebellious children abuse their godly parents. They use foul language, strike their parents, sometimes steal from their parents, and otherwise show them disrespect. That is what is being condemned in the fifth commandment.
The responsibility of teaching one’s children to show respect for one’s parents falls on the parent. How the parent treats his own parents will train children in how to treat their parents. How one speaks to the grandparents teaches children how to speak to their parents. A father who allows his child to speak disrespectfully to his mother is failing both of them.
Mike Willis
