Different Life: 4th CommandmentShembull

Earlier this week we pointed out that love is for everyone, but honor is first and foremost for God and our parents. There is a link between how we treat our parents and how we treat God. Just as there is a link between how we view God based on what our parents were like.

God is the creator and our parents are His co-creators in bringing us into the world. Our parents are meant to be a picture of what God is like. Throughout the Old Testament God calls Israel His son. Jesus calls God His father more than anything, and the Bible says that if we are in Christ, we too are children of God.

When we honor our parents, we honor God. Sometimes we have to force ourselves to honor our parents precisely because we want to honor God. Our parents will never measure up to God. Nor should we ever condemn God because of our parents. But hopefully they’ve shown us something of what God is like. And hopefully those of us who are parents will strive to be good image-bearers of God to our kids. But even when it doesn’t play out that way, know you have a Father in heaven who is exactly how God intended every parent to be.