Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. — Exodus 20:12 (NIV)
In recent years, many have become alarmed by a tsunami of rudeness and disrespect. Classroom learning stops when there is no order or respect for the teacher or other students. Businesses can’t function properly without basic courtesy or consideration. A recent post on social media claiming to be from Philadelphia shows hordes of young people blocking major roads and, when motorists slow down to avoid hitting someone, some youth jump up and down on the cars to damage them. Across the video ran the text “Where are the parents?”
The answer to this scourge can be found in the Bible. The 10 Commandments are widely seen as a cornerstone of the scriptures, and the verse to honor father and mother is right in the middle, at #5. So, the crucial lesson to learn to honor and respect others is to begin in the home, and starts with respecting mom and dad.
Plus, this is the only one of the 10 Commandments with a promise attached: “that you may live long in the land.”
Many struggle at Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, knowing that their parents weren’t perfect. Then again, no one is. The commandment isn’t “always agree with your mother” or for adult children, “always obey your mother.” But, we called to honor her, and that is a commandment we are never to outgrow.
In many ways, the ideas of Motherhood and even femaleness are questioned and even under attack in our culture, but from Eve in the Book of Genesis we learn that motherhood is ordained by God.
If your mother is still living, you’re called to honor her. And if you’re a mother, be encouraged! You play a crucial role that no one else can do. A Spanish proverb states, “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of priests.”
The famed preacher Billy Sunday claimed, “I don’t believe there are devils enough in hell to pull a boy out of the arms of a godly mother.”
And one anonymous observer wrote: “Successful mothers are not the ones who have never struggled. They are the ones who never give up, despite the struggles.”
Happy Mother’s Day!
S.G.D./S.D.G.