Quick Note – Proverbs 19:26 – Honor Your Parents

Proverbs 19:26 – “He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who brings shame and reproach.”

Ephesians 6:1 states, “Children, obey your parents in the LORD:  for this is right”; I must admit that sometimes it is quite hard to follow this command.  A lot of people like to think that this verse is directed only towards younger children, for it is one of the most common children’s Sunday school lessons, but that would be wrong.  To say that the verse is restricted to a certain age group like younger children and teenagers would be ludicrous, for the verse speaks to everyone, because we are all children of a set of parents.  We must all obey and honor our parents no matter how old we get.  And it’s true that a lot of us tend to think that as we grow older and more mature, we learn to respect them more, but that is not always the case.  Sometimes, if we are not careful, we can actually become even more disrespectful because we may think that we now “know more.”  Whether we are old or young, we must be careful to obey and honor our parents.

Our passage today is found in the book of Proverbs.  It is just one of the hundreds of wise and pithy statements that Solomon, the wisest man to have ever lived, left for posterity.  Although a lot of the Proverbs in this chapter focused on the poor, idleness, and temper-control, it was this specific verse that hit home with me today.  The reason for that is because I actually did not show the proper respect to my mom today when she shared some advice with me.  Instead of calmly listening, weighing the information, and taking it to heart, I lashed back in a way that showed dishonor to my mother.  It is just like the verse says, I “chased” away my mother.  Now, of course, I didn’t actually chase my mother away from my life in my words or actions, but the way I acted was certainly a step in that direction.  It was after I had done that that I realized how foolish I had been.  Fortunately, my mom is a fairly quick forgiver and forgave me after I apologized.

Although my short story ends with a happy ending, a lot of people today do not have good relationships with one of their parents, because they refuse to give them the proper respect and honor.  It may not even be an issue of a specific event but a general disrespectful attitude.  As Christians, God expects us to love and honor our parents, no matter how trying it may be.  They could be always giving you a hard time, but you must still respect them.  They could be elderly and need more of your time and help, but you must still respect them.  They may be controlling and difficult, but you must still respect them.  They could be unsaved, but you must still respect them.  The fifth commandment of the Ten given to Moses was “Honor your father and mother.”  We must make sure that we set an example for the world of what it means to respect one’s parents.  We must love and take care of them.  We must listen and obey them in the LORD (as long as it is not going against God’s Word).  We must honor them.  By honoring them, we honor God through obedience as well.