Making Good Choices - Ten WordsSample

Making the right choices – Ten Words

Word # 5 Honour!  

“Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12)

The first four Words define how God wants us to show love for Him. This Fifth Word begins a series of six words that show us how to love other people, starting from our earliest years in the family.

In a way, this Word connects the two sections since God reveals Himself as our loving Father and no father deserves honour as much as our Heavenly Father! However, this does not always happen! God pointed out this much-too-common problem in Malachi 1:6. “A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honour? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?”

This Fifth Word helps us see how learning respect and honour in the family setting helps prepare us to show honour to our ultimate Father. It all starts at home and the family is the first place to practice making right choices and managing our resources well. Our parents resemble the Creator in as much as they were partners with God in the creation of the child. Honouring father and mother opens a channel for God’s continued blessing.

Interestingly, this is the first commandment which carries a promise. 'So that you may live well, enjoying God’s provision!' God’s blessings and well-being stem from giving honour to those in authority over us. Paul says, "Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority…” (1 Peter 2:13) 

God calls us explicitly to honour our parents because the family is the foundation of human society. The need to honour authorities is not a consequence of the fall; rather, the command to obey those over us reflects the way in which God has ordered His universe. If children do not honour their parents, all other earthly authorities will collapse. This happens every day in homes where children are not required to obey their parents and in homes where fathers are absent. An unbearable strain is put on local authorities and the government.

The command to honour one’s father and mother carries with it the broader implication to submit to one’s employer, governmental officials, and any other duly instituted authority.

Honouring people means to keep our word, do what we promise, and pay what we owe. It means producing an honest tax return and not cheating on our employer. 

Practising honour to all opens a window for God’s blessing, “that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” This is a land of wealth, contentment, and joy!

Making the right choices?

This Word #5 encourages us to seek ways to honour others by being honest and truthful in all our dealings, respecting and utilising the experience of those who have gone before us.