by Whit Sasser<\/p>\n
In the list of things worthy of death found in Romans 1:30 is disobedience to parents. Proverbs 30:17 says, “The eye that mocks his father, and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it.” It is clear, that God’s will for man is that he honors his parents and that sad consequences follow him who does not.<\/p>\n
Leviticus 19:3 teaches us to reverence our parents: “Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father<\/em>…” I am to have high regard for them and hold them in high esteem. Now this will cause me to do or not do many things. First, I will have to watch my tongue. The Scripture warns us about “cursing” our mother and father: “And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death<\/em>” (Exodus 21:17). That was a pretty strong penalty in the Old Testament. Even if I do not use foul language, I can be guilty of this, if I speak disparagingly or harshly, critically and without respect. I must remember to honor them in my words.<\/p>\n Secondly, I need to reverence them in deed. Leviticus 19:32 says, “You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man<\/em>.” Solomon, after he became king, rose to meet his mother when she came before him and bowed himself down to her. See I Kings 2:19. “So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king arose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat on his throne; then he had a throne set for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right.<\/em>” I am not saying children must do literally the same today, but reverence must be in action and not solely in words.<\/p>\n And third, we must show our honor with support in their old age. I Timothy 5:4 teaches that we must show our piety (reverence) at home by repaying them as need warrants. “but if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family, and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.<\/em>” A Christian is said to be worse than an unbeliever if he will not financially support them: “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever<\/em>” (I Timothy 5:8). Jesus adds in Mark 7:9-13 that such help cannot go unprovided due to you giving it to the temple. I do not honor my parents if I refuse to take care of their physical welfare in their older days. This is God’s social security plan.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Whit Sasser In the list of things worthy of death found in Romans 1:30 is disobedience to parents. Proverbs 30:17 says, “The eye that mocks his father, and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it.” It is clear, that God’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[550,1509],"class_list":["post-53168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-honor-your-parents","tag-parents"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":95527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fear-your-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":53168,"position":0},"title":"Fear Your Mother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer What the world generally knows as Mother's Day is a tradition that has come down to us through many twists and turns through the centuries. We won't go into that here. As we know it now, this day is a tradition that honors our mothers for all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1710,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/honor-your-father-and-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":53168,"position":1},"title":"Honor Your Father and Mother (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton The command to honor your parents was carried over into the law of Christ intact. \"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. \"Honor your father and mother,\" which is the first commandment with promise: \"that it may be well with you and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-mother-thinks-im-too-young-to-get-married-must-i-obey-her\/","url_meta":{"origin":53168,"position":2},"title":"My mother thinks I’m too young to get married. Must I obey her?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I am 21 years old, born again and spirit-filled. I'm currently in a relationship with a Christian sister, who is also born again and Spirit-filled. She is 18 years old. Though our relationship is based on the Word of God, we have the don't and the do's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57098,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-teach-your-father-or-mother-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":53168,"position":3},"title":"How to Teach Your Father or Mother the Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Adapted from an article by Edward Good via Gospel Power, Vol. 16, No. 29, July 19, 2009. What a difficult thing it can be to teach your father and mother the truth of the gospel! There are so many Christians whose heart's desire and prayer to God is for their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43092,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/honor-your-father-and-mother-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":53168,"position":4},"title":"Honor Your Father and Mother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 6:1-3 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the Ten Commandments of the Old Law is brought to the New Law intact. It is the commandment to honor our parents \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The word \u201chonor\u201d in this passage means to fix a value on something, to consider it a prized\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14168,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-protestants-honor-mary-as-catholics-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":53168,"position":5},"title":"Why don’t Protestants honor Mary as Catholics do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The original question was: Why do Protestants not honor Mary as Catholics do? We are to imitate Jesus Christ, are we not? Well, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law perfectly, and part of the Law is the Fourth Commandment. Jesus honored his Father and his Mother, so we should do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}