6 June, 2023
As for children, obey your parents in the Lord, because it is right. The commandment Honor your father and mother is the first one with a promise attached. So that things will go well for you, and you will live for a long time in the land. – Ephesians 6:2-3
Heavenly Father, in your great Wisdom and Knowledge, in your Strength and Counsel, we place our hopes. For we are mortals, unfaithful human beings, easily lured into foolishness of thought, word and deed, by the evil one who rules and misguides us, tempting and leading us astray, into darkness, away from your Light of grace. Father, you have appointed our earthly fathers and mothers in our family units, to guide and instruct us in your Holy Word. To fear and obey you, our Lord and God. And you have commanded that we pay heed to their instructions, with honor.
The good and wholesome counsel of a father is what shapes our character and nature and the pious instructions which the mother instills into the child, in their tender years, strengthens the mind of a child and influences them in later years. Children are prone, as they grow, to slight their mother’s advice, because, being a homemaker, they deem her simple and ignore her dictates. We have not that dependence upon and expectation from our mothers which we have from our father’s instruction.
Your commandment, Lord, demands that a mother’s training should not be rejected, for it can bring pain, trouble and an early death. You have chosen our parents carefully, and we need to obey and respect them. If we have Christian parents that desire our best for us, we are bound to obey them dutifully. And if not, you want us to obey them nevertheless.. It is the sins of pride, rebellion, and violating a parent’s laws that prevents your blessings and provokes your wrath. Help us to obey your commands, in Jesus’ Name. Amen