I am always intrigued when God brings me to something that He has taken me to at least once before. Like this morning, back to the Ten Commandments and the same one I studied just a few days ago. Only this time, I am seeing something different than before.
“16Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” – Deuteronomy 5:16 (ESV)
Yes, I am to honor my father and mother as commanded, but why. This morning I am able to see more of that why. I am to do so in the interest of long life and that I can take it with me and share with others. Yes, I am to share that with others as I move along into the place that God has me going.
I am sure that most have heard the saying, “do as I say, not as I do”. Well, the reason for that saying is that there is not a lot of doing and only a lot of saying. Everyone else is to follow the words except for those saying them. That does not seem to be the way of Christ and a good example of Him.
It is easy to say the words and scripture. It is something else to follow them in your daily life for all the world to see and embrace. I am to be the example of what right looks like and not just the speaker of what right looks like. I have to step away from saying the words and move toward the doing what is right. Honoring my father and mother is but one of those examples of what right looks like.
As was shared with me recently, fathers and mothers are not always deserving of honor based on their actions. And where I agree with that, God does not qualify this commandment by saying to honor them as long as they do things honorable. He does say to honor them so that you can live long and carry that honor forward. And that is the why behind the action. I can honor them by not celebrating them as the saying goes, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”. I simply do not have to reference them, only love them in the way of Christ and work to carry forward that which is right and demonstrate the gospel to others.
My role is to carry the gospel forward and be the example of what right looks like in the process. As is also said, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. I have to imitate Christ in the way I walk and talk in this world. I have to honor my father and mother to carry that honor forward that others will do the same.
What is your approach to honor? Are you the one that speaks it and yet does not necessarily demonstrate it? What if you were the example of what right looks like and carried honor with you to live long and share forward?
Trevor's Thoughts 