Children Honor Your Father ?

Fathers, do you feel your children honor and respect you? Children, do you feel that you really communicate honor and respect to your Fathers?

The Bible is very clear that children are to honor their father and mother. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.” {Ephesians 6:1-3}

As I reflect on Father's day, I realize how important that is. I usually do not hear fathers talking about feeling honored and respected by their children. Surely some do feel that way, but more common is talk about how their families show them disrespect at home.

Comedy routines sometimes reflect this truth. “When I was a teenager I was continually amazed at how stupid and clueless my father was. The amazing thing is how he gets smarter and more with it the older I get!”

It is easy to communicate scorn, impatience, and negatives like those. However, it seems to be so hard to communicate the positives like love, respect, and honor. Those are just what the Bible commands us to communicate and to live out in our daily lives with our fathers.

Another thing to notice is that the Bible does not say to do this if they “deserve” your respect and honor. It simply says to do it. I know there are plenty of fathers out there who in no way deserve it. Without even straining I can name several. I can name lots of them from the Bible too. Naming ones who do deserve it is much harder. But that does not matter when it comes to this command.

I think, no I am sure, that God did that on purpose. It is interesting to note that often when we start to treat someone with honor and respect they seem to start deserving it more. It may be that by communicating respect to them they start trying to live up to it. Or it may be that we simply start to open our eyes to ways they really do deserve it. Likely both happen.

This gets me wondering if my father feels honored and respected by his sons. To get even more pointed does he usually sense honor and respect from me?

That is a good question for each of us to think about as we look forward to Father’s Day. Honest reflection on that can make us better children (of all ages), wives, and even better fathers.

Written by Rev. Daniel B. Baker April 2008



Articles by Rev. Daniel B. Baker :: Webmaster: Joseph I. Baker