TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2017.
RESPECT
DEFINITION:
Treat with high regard and high esteem; to give honor to.
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise. Ephesians 6:1-2.
At times we wonder if people even know what the word respect means. The actions of people today tend to show a lack of respect. We have become a very impatient society. For example, when you drive a car do people driving other cars show any respect to you? They will cut in front of you just to get one car ahead of you causing you to hit your brakes along with the cars behind you. When backing out of your parking place in a parking lot you must be very alert because no one waits for you to back out. They keep on moving and many times just miss a collision.
What kind of respect do you receive at your work place? It seems each person is out for themselves and even when you do a good job and complete a project your boss says nothing. It used to be that people were thanked and congratulated for a job well done. That does not happen today.
The two verses we have put above have to deal with children showing respect to their parents. In verse one, God commands children to obey their parents and in verse two they are to honor their parents. There is a difference between obeying and honoring. To obey your parents means children are to do what they are told while under their parent’s care. The commandment to honor your parents means to respect and love your parents for life.
When children obey their parents, they show respect to their parent. The motive behind a child’s obedience to obey should be the desire of the child to honor his or her parents by showing them respect. Children that obey and honor their father and mother are showing respect to them.
According to God’s Word society is built on the family. When the family breaks down, as is happening so often today, the society breaks down. We are seeing the devastating effect the break-down of the family is having on society.
One of the major factors needed for stability in the family is respect. Parents must respect one another and teach their children to respect them and their authority over them. But in many homes today, worldwide, this is not happening.
“To honor your parents” means to act in a way that shows courtesy and respect and to be submissive to them. It means to never speak disrespectfully to them or about them. Juvenile delinquency stems from the lack of respect children have for their parents and for authority.
If children do not learn to honor parents, the disrespect spills over into their adult lives, affecting every other relationship they will have. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach respect and if they fail to do so problems accelerate into the next generation. Soon an entire society is plagued with disrespect in homes, schools and workplaces. Does this sound like our generation today?
Our culture is disrespectful because parents have abdicated their responsibility. Instead of standing in the place of honor that God has given them, they have stepped down and tolerated bad behavior from their children. Some parents fail to recognize that disrespect is a serious matter that calls for immediate action. This is ignorance about the need for discipline. If you let such attitudes and behaviors continue it will escalate if it is not checked. You are not raising your child according to Biblical principles so how can you expect anything but trouble later in life.
There also is a misunderstanding about love. In their desire to be loved by their children, parents try to be a child’s best friend instead of a parent. Children need an authority figure in their lives. If children see a parent as an equal they are less likely to respect or love the parent.
Probably the biggest reason for the lack of respect today by children is that parents get overwhelmed with busyness and they let it slide when their children show disrespect. Teaching children to honor you takes time, effort, and consistency. If you as a parent do not teach your child does not learn. Parents must remember that they teach by example. Parents must also obey God’s command and honor their own parents.
In Ephesians 6:4 Paul instructs parents to be the right kind of teachers and bring their children up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Our memory verse for this week is found in John 1:1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Help me to teach my children what it means to show respect and honor. May I be strong and firm, in a loving way, showing them that it is Your will for them to love, honor and respect their parents. Help me to be a godly example for my children and to be deserving of their respect.
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