The Family

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE FAMILY

Eph 6:1-4

6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."  4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

NIV

This is good instructions, yet it is a little strange that Paul would quote one of the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy. If Jesus came to fulfill the law, rather than abolish it, does the law the law then still exist. Of course, Jesus expanded on many of the commandments, however, because of grace we no longer live under the law and yet we do seem to have the law of the Ten Commandments influencing our lives. Here the first of those ten is about the relationship between children and their parents. We do not know how this played out over the past centuries, but we know about this relationship in our lifetime and we have witnessed a deterioration of children honoring their father and mother. We cannot be sure why this has happened, but it appears the educational system has been a major influence in giving children the idea they have the right to make life choices without the consent of their parents. What is also interesting is that this command about honoring our father and mother does not have a time limit. That is even as we become adults, and parents ourselves, if our parents are still living, we are to honor them. It is also interesting the Greek word timao translated as honor means to place a value on, or fix a valuation upon. So we should value our parents, after all, they did give us life, which also gave us the opportunity to know Christ. Yes, some of us have had a difficult childhood, with parents who did not seem to value them as their children, and that speaks to the issue of fathers not exasperating or provoking their children to wrath or to anger or rage. When a child is mistreated, we would think that would cause this anger within toward the father. Speaking in the first person, I can testify to this anger within toward my abusive father throughout my youth. I can also testify that when I became a believer in Jesus Christ, I went to my father and forgave him, thus making the determination to place value on him giving him the opportunity to accept forgiveness and know Christ himself. This command, or instructions about fathers also places all the responsibility for the well-being of the children squarely on the shoulders of the father as the head of the household. We have also witnessed, in general, an abdication of the father’s authority over his children, putting their well-being into the hands of the mother. Of course, the children are to honor their mother, placing a high level of value on her as well as the father. Nevertheless, everything boils down to all the responsibility is on the father and his interaction with his children, and again,  it does not appear there is a time frame there either, so that as long as we have breathe in our lungs and our heart beats, we are to care for the well-being of our children even as they are adults and perhaps parents. It would seem right as the father exerts this loving care for his children, they will in turn honor their parents.