Principle2, the L: Love and honor your parents.

Loving God and loving your parents will help you to give them the honor God dictates we have for our parents, and that will greatly help your obedience to the things they teach you about what is right and what is wrong, coupled, of course, with what God teaches us. Love, dearest, comes from the depths of our being, stemming from who we are in Christ. Love hopes the best for the one loved and strives to help them attain to it. Honoring parents begins with honoring God through the way we treat our parents and ends with living a life that makes them look good as parents, causing them to have a good reputation as parents who have succeeded in their parenting great kids. Even if your parents are unworthy of honor or respect, you can obey God’s call to honor them by being the great kids He desires you to be, expressive of His image, making your parents look better than their parenting skills prove them to be.

The world says that right and wrong are personal choices and, therefore, they are grey-matter with no clear definition; but Scripture teaches that right and wrong have clear divisions that help us to discern which is which with the help of God’s Spirit and umpire Peace. Your parents try to give you the guiding principles that will help you to discern right and wrong, but there is a false wisdom in the world that will cause you to question those guidelines. When that happens, there will be differences of opinion between you and them.

Remember this principle when you are angry with parents for standing in the way of what you want to do. When they put up roadblocks before you because they see something you desire as being something that will lead you astray, principle 2 coupled with principle 1 will help you to honor your parents as God desires you do. When struggling with your parents’ rights over you, no matter what may have led to them taking their stance on the matter at hand—differences in opinion will occur, but love does not stop. God is love. Love always moves to respond as Jesus would, in ways that honor God first and that seek the best for those we love.

When Mary asked Jesus to turn the water into wine, wanting to show off her Son, Jesus said, “You know, mom, it is not My time for being revealed to the world yet” (John 2:4 paraphrased). Then He lovingly honored His mom through obedience. As long as you practice walking in God’s ways, keeping Him first, with love and honor for your parents, you will bring joy to your parents and weather the storms of disagreement.