Wednesday, November 05, 2014

We have been doing a study of responsible parenting. Now let’s turn our attention to something else that is important if we want to experience health and joy in our family. Ephesians 6:2 declares, “’Honor your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise – ‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’” Though this is a command directed to children they will learn how to do this best within an environment where honoring each other within the family is practiced by all, especially where parents exhibit this in their marriage. Paul encourages this for all Christians in their relationships within the church. Listen to Romans 12:9-10, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Sincere love for one another leads you to be devoted to one another. That will produce within you a natural desire to honor one another above yourself. This is good and we are encouraged to cling to it. The reverse of this is evil and should be avoided or hated. We will be looking into this more thoroughly in subsequent visits. My prayer is that, as we study how to honor each other in the family, God will motivate you to look for ways to honor each one within your family in a way that will be recognized and felt by the one honored. If you have been honored by someone I’d like to hear how they did it and how it affected you.