I've started a series of letters to my kids based on the 10 Commandments. You can find my other letters in this series by following the links below.
- first letter (introduction)
- second letter (first commandment - no other gods)
- third letter (second commandment - no idols)
- fourth letter (third commandment - don't misuse God's name)
- fifth letter (fourth commandment - keep the Sabbath day holy)
And now for the sixth letter discussing the fifth commandment...
We’ve been learning about the 10 Commandments. Can you
remember the first four?
1) Do not have any
other gods – God wants us to recognize that He is the only true God who
created all things.
2) Do not worship
idols – God wants us to worship only Him.
3) Keep God’s name
holy – God doesn’t want us to think, say or do anything that would dishonor
his name.
4) Keep the Sabbath
day holy – God wants us to set aside regular time for Him, to show others
how important God is to us and to refresh our spirit.
The first four commandments teach us to love God with all
our hearts. The remaining six teach us to love others with that same kind of
love.
Here is the fifth commandment: Honor
your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD
your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12
We see this commandment repeated in the New Testament: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for
this is right. “Honor your father and mother” – which is the first commandment
with a promise – “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life
on the earth.” Ephesians 6:2-3
I think what this verse is saying is that when we respect
and obey (honor) our parents or guardians, our lives will be much happier. What
does it mean to honor someone? It means to treat them as precious and valuable,
to prize them highly and to obey them. Our parents or guardians are gifts to us
from God and most likely they have done their best to provide our basic needs
for us.
Some very easy ways we can respect and honor our parents or
guardians is by speaking kindly to them, helping them, praying for them and
obeying them. I guess another word for honor is love. God wants us to love Him
with all our hearts and one of the best ways to love God is to love others.
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| my mom and I |
We just celebrated Mother’s Day in our country and my mom was able to travel to spend the weekend with me and my family. We live very far apart and don’t get to see each other often, so it was special to celebrate the day together. And next month we’ll celebrate Father’s Day. Both of these holidays are reminders for us to remember how special our parents are to us, but we really need to remember that every day.
