A Kingdom Key Devotional by Bishop Thomas Wesley Weeks, Sr.
The Reward for Giving Honor
The Fifth Commandment that God gave to Moses to give to Israel was the first Commandment with a promise. (Exodus 20:12) The Promise was that if you honored your mother and father, you would live long. There is a rich truth in this Commandment with a promise that can change the ills of our society in just a few short years.
The first four Commandments dealt with us loving God. The remaining six Commandments dealt with us loving one another. The Fifth Commandment then, was the first Commandment that dealt with how we are to treat one another. This Commandment laid the foundation for the others to come. Consequently, the foundation of how we are to treat others will begin with how we treat our parents. If we do it with honor, there is the further blessing of receiving long life.
The dictionary sums up honor as giving respect. This is the process of putting someone else first. That is why the place of honor is usually up front, or being first. When we put our parents first, respecting what they ask us to do by responding positively, we form a habit of doing the same for others who should receive the same treatment. Please note that the Bible did not say honor them if they were good. WE ARE TO RESPECT THEM WHETHER THEY ARE GOOD OR NOT. My respect is not based on their treatment of me but on their assignment that was given to them by God. God assigned them to be my parents. Thus, when I respect my parents, I am also respecting and honoring the wisdom of God.
It is not my responsibility to judge whether they are doing a good job or not and either reward them or punish them. I did not give them the assignment, thus I cannot judge them. However, the One who did give them the assignment will hold them accountable. Too many children are trying to hold their parents accountable for things done to them. As a result, the children are revengeful, hateful, angry and mad. No one can be successful with this much negative energy ruling his or her life. YOU CAN'T EXPECT TO LIVE LONG IN THAT STATE. The good news is that the reverse is also true. If I am happy, respectful, loving, kind and generous, I can expect a much longer life. This attitude is possible, even in a bad parental situation, if I continue to respect my parents.
Parents are given to us to be teachers. They teach us what to do and what not to do. We learn from both the good experiences as well as the bad experiences. How we keep the bad experience from becoming a curse in our life is always to honor. It is the antidote for the bad experience. A family curse is passed from one generation to the next by pain, but if I kill the pain by letting the experience be a lesson learned, I save the next generation. I kill the pain by respecting and loving my parents enough that I forgive them rather than seek revenge. Love will eliminate the pain while revenge will enhance it.
In order for the lessons of life to truly be taught, the teacher must be transparent. That is why the best teachers should be the parents. A child sees its parents at their best and at their worst. The child is in the house and even in the bedroom. This truth is the lesson taught by the story of Noah and Ham. (Genesis 9:18-27) Noah had rescued his family from a certain death by devoting his life to a call from God. After retirement he planted a garden and one night decided to enjoy the fruit of his labor. In doing so he got drunk and laid in his bedroom naked; a shameful position. There are times that even good parents will be fleshly and show you a side of them you have never seen. But it is to be remembered that this is an honor. It is an honor because I would have never been able to see the weakness of my father if I was not given the privilege of a son to come into the bedroom.
It is unfortunate that Ham came into his father bedroom and saw him naked and went outside the room to tell others about it. He disrespected his father's privacy even though he was given a privilege of being in the room. You have been given the privilege of life and experiencing the best and worst of your parents. Learn from it. Repeat the good. Eliminate the bad. Always honor your mother and father whether you lived in a home with them or your memory of them is blurred and painful.
One of our nation's great pastors is great, not because he pastors a large church but because as an orphan, he teaches an enormous lesson. He did not let being forsaken destroy his life but he learned from it and for the past 20 years has worked unselfishly to make sure no child in my state grows up an orphan. I salute him and everyone else just like him. Honor your mother and your father. It will be for your well-being as well as for the well-being of your children. As you have learned, they are now learning from you. If this generation will learn from the previous generation, using the truth of honor, we can change our society and neighborhoods from being ones of crime and violence to neighborhoods of peace and love. Rather than seeing young lives cut short, we will be rejoicing over grandchildren and great grandchildren being raised to honor their heritage. This reward I can appreciate and respect!
