RESPECT YOUR FATHER

In the Bible, God says;

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 20:12

Which of the following statements exempt you from honoring and respecting your father.

A. You don’t believe the same way as he does.

B. You don’t agree with his politics.

C. He refuses to condone sin you approve of.

D. He still instructs you even as an adult.

E. Your mother and her relatives don’t.

F. He has made a lot of bad mistakes.

G. He can’t help you financially anymore.

H. You don’t like him all that much anyway.

Which of these statements exempt you from honoring and respecting your father?

Answer? That’s right. NONE of them!

The only reason you need to do it is because God said so, but even then there are some other substantial benefits that would be foolish to overlook. Maybe you should read the New Testament version of this same scripture.

Ephesians 6:1-3. (Paraphrased)

Children, obey your parents, for this is the right thing to do. For the commandment to Honor thy Father and Mother is the first commandment that comes with a promise attached to it. That things will go well for you and you will a long life upon the earth.

That certainly could not be more clear.

Children are to be loved, not worshiped or chased after. Once infancy is outgrown, the children should continue chasing after the wisdom and expertise of the parents so as to extract great gain from it, instead of the parents having to chase after or buy their way into the lives of the children based on what temporal physical things they can do for them now as adults.

Today’s young adults are really missing out on the greatest natural resources ever available. The presence of their parents, mainly the father. Especially since the actual blood father is at top of the food chain when it comes to having the highest motive possible for telling you the truth. Even more than your blood mother, although by position she is next in line. Those two are the only persons on the planet that have absolutely no motive whatsoever to do anything other than tell you the complete truth. Every other person you will ever know or meet will come with the price tag of having the potential to be dishonest with you in order to gain an advantage over or get something from you. Only the parent can hold this ultimate position.

So if you have a Dad that is still here, grow up and go make it right. Your feelings will not change the positional authority structure that God has designed, just because your dad may not be everything you think he should be. No, God won't do it, not even for you.

In most cases, your father has already chased after you and sacrificed greatly over many years in order to get you all grown up to be big, strong, and healthy. So how about him seeing a little effort from you now, huh?

Be a Prodigal. Return to your father's house and make amends, because the pictures on your iPhone could never hope to have the same impact.