Winning Ways: What Honoring Parents Can Do For You

The instruction to "honor your father and mother" in the 10 Commandments isn't just for kids. What can observing this command do for you as a grown-up?


That's the question Hillcrest adults will be exploring this Sunday. Yes, we'll continue the "God's Perfect 10" sermon series even though I'm halfway around the world.

By the time you read this, I should be in Manado, Indonesia. I am serving with Advance International, an organization in partnership with our International Mission Board. Advance pairs teachers with under-resourced areas of the world to train local pastors. I appreciate your prayers for a safe and fruitful trip.

While I am away from you this Sunday, however, I will be up on the screen during the service. My eldest son, a film school graduate, has prepared a video presentation of my teaching on the Fifth Commandment. It was a fun morning capturing the footage at Auditorium Shores with the Austin skyline in the background. We hope you'll like the presentation this week.

The Fifth Commandment can help us in every stage of adulthood.

Young adults: You will start out life more successfully by honoring your parents. To "honor" doesn't mean to blindly agree with everything Mom and Dad say. It does mean to recognize that wisdom didn't show up for the first time with your generation. There are people who love you, who have more life experience than you, and their guidance can preserve you from a lot of regret.

Parents: Expecting your kids to honor you isn't about your ego but about their well-being. Notice the Fifth Commandment is the only one with a promise: We honor our parents "so that you may live long and that it may go well with you" (Deuteronomy 5:16). You increase the odds that your kids "live long" and that things "go well" with them if you'll build an expectation of honor in your home.

Adults with Elderly Parents: Earlier in life we honor our parents by paying attention to their words but as we get older we honor our parents by paying attention to their needs. Paul that we "put our religion into practice" by doing this, and he warned us sternly against any neglect in this area (1 Timothy 5:4, 8).

Join the Hillcrest Family this Sunday @ 10 to learn more about how honoring parents can still help you into adulthood.

 

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