God's Word for a Culture

God's Word for a Culture

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.
—Colossians 3:20

It is interesting to note that before a word is spoken in the Ten Commandments about how to treat others, God starts with the family. I don't think anything can bring greater pleasure than our families, and few things can give us as much pain. Kids have problems with parents. Parents have problems with kids. Sometimes people will say, "Well, I came from a dysfunctional family." Welcome to humanity. Who doesn't come from a dysfunctional family?

Yet our very existence as a society depends on the success of the family. It has been said that a family can survive without a nation, but a nation cannot survive without the family. Yet there is such an attack on the family today. In fact, the Bible tells us that one of the signs of the last days will be a breakdown in the family and a disrespect for parents in particular: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy . . . " (2 Timothy 3:1-2).

So here is God's word for a culture. Here is God's word for a society. Here is God's word for us: "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12). The Hebrew word for "honor" means to be heavy or to give weight. In other words, it is a weighty thing to be a parent. There is a lot of responsibility that goes along with being a father or a mother.

So whether our parents are Christians our not, the Bible tells us that we are to honor them. We are to give them the recognition they deserve for their God-given authority. We are to respect and esteem and value and prize them as gifts from God.