All of us are commanded to honour our mothers and fathers. Regardless of the situation, whether we come from broken or dysfunctional families, the truth remains that it pleases the Lord when we choose to honour our earthly dads and moms.

The Lord told Moses, according to Exodus 20:12, "Honour your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you." Paul emphasises in Ephesians 6:2 that "this is the first commandment with a promise," giving us the idea that it is very important to God.

Honouring our parents

To honour means to "regard with great respect." God's command to all of us, since all of us are children, demands that whatever our parents are doing, we should give them our respect.

Most often we find it easy to respect our parents when they are honourable and they treat us well. When they are able to meet all our needs, or perhaps are able to give us what we desire, it's easy for us to love them and respect them in return. But when they are negligent or abusive, we tend to treat them with contempt. This shouldn't be.

Honouring God

The way we treat our parents ultimately reflect how we treat our heavenly Father. The Lord Jesus said in a parable in Matthew 25, "I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." (verse 45).

How we treat others does reflect our treatment of our Lord.

Think about it. If we are unable to honour our earthly fathers and mothers who are visible, how are we able to treat our heavenly Father whom our naked, unspiritual eyes can't see? And another, more important thing: since God commanded us to honour our parents, we should do it in obedience to Him. When we don't honour our parents, we're actually disobeying Him.

'But my parents aren't honourable'

Yes, you might say that it's hard to honour your parents. Don't worry, because Jesus can help you do that. Luke 2:51 says that He Himself was obedient to His earthly parents Mary and Joseph, even though He is God. If He was able to do it, so will we by His grace.

Love your parents. Be God's agent of reconciliation towards them. Realise that the more dishonourable or contemptible they may be because of their lifestyle, the more God wants to reach out to them. Remember that Christ died for all men, including your parents.

If God loves your parents, you should love them, too.