The Fifth Commandment HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER

Good afternoon all ;)  The Blog topic today is in continuing with our 10 Commandment Challenge and is the 5th Commandment  Honour thy Father and Mother.  We don't honour our parents anymore. We don't honour people anymore. Not so long ago we were still honouring in this country as God has commanded. In some other countries honour is still big but on the Western side of the world we have lost the relevance of honouring someone.  We use to honour our elders for their knowledge and the expertise they could offer, now we put so much emphasis on youth and our looks and staying young that our elders are left to be seen as more of a burden and nuisance in their latter days and because of that we are disregarding what God has told us. 
1Timothy 5:17 "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine"
Today most families need to work full time so there is no one to stay at home with the elder parent but the costs to house our elders are exceedingly expensive as well.  This was done intentionally in the grand scheme of the plan.  Don't get angry. I'm not judging anyone. Everyone is in their own situations financially and that may or may not have been before you really gave any of this any thought.  It may also be that like the rest of us you also got caught up in the trap set by Satan to make us break this commandment as well. We should be honouring our parents by caring for them in their old age like they cared for us as children.That is the way God would want it but instead we get carried away with our own stresses and personal financial obligations and think we can't afford to have them live with us. We get so wrapped up in money and its ripping tearing grip it has on everything that we forget about faith? We all too often forget that in the big picture HE tells us to listen and to follow him and his ways and the Lord will take care of us. HE knows what we need long before we know what we need.

If we just listen to Him then how could we go in the wrong direction? ;)

The Bible is filled with examples of children and parents and the topic of honouring them.  Matthew 15:4-9 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
⁵ But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
⁶ And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
⁷ Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
⁸ This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
⁹ But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

So what is honour? To give something value and dignity. Do we ever stop to say " wow my parents were of great value to me?" Well some of us have just realized how it all fits into Gods plan myself included.  I have recently sent both of my parents writings to tell them how much I honour the both of them and value what they have taught me.  Some people may say "well my parents were horrible parents, they don't deserve honour."  I'm not in anyway going to say that all parents were cut out for the job and some of them did an awful job whether intentionally or for lack of knowledge but the Bible is very clear that we are still to obey the Lord and honour our parents. It does not say "just the good ones"  :) He actually isn't really asking either....he actually commands it of us to honour our parents.  This does not mean in anyway that as an adult you have to do whatever your parents tell you but keep in mind when Mary told Jesus that he should make wine at the wedding in John 2:4 and he replied "Woman what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come" Mary follows by saying "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."  In his statement he gently states that this is not his concern reiterating that he is the Saviour of the World with a very different purpose and it is ultimately God he takes his orders from.  However; Jesus still honoured his mother and turned the water into wine for the wedding. 

There are too many cases of elder abandonment or elder abuse going on in our systems today. Nursing homes were not how God intended it. The government system for Old age security and CPP and  retirement accounts have allowed us to be changed and sadly not for the better. Definitely not in Gods eyes. Children should care for their parents.  1Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

1Timothy 5:16 
If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.  Simply put let not the church look after your relatives to leave room for the church to look after the true widows, the ones with no families.

Honouring scripture references: Proverbs 20:20 "Whoso curseth his father or mother, his lamp shall be put out in the obscure darkness."

Proverbs 30:11-17 ¹¹ There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.

¹² There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
¹³ There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
¹⁴ There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
¹⁵ The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
¹⁶ The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
¹⁷ The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

We are supposed to work together as a family unit not as individuals as we have been mislead to believe. There should be no social systems family should help family and since God says we are all family then we effectively should always be helping each other all the time.

1Timothy 5:4  But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

CHALLENGE: Call/Write your parents today, doesn't matter whether they are alive or dead  and let them know that you honour them and that you appreciate everything they did for you. Even the bad in your life has brought you here- to this very moment and everything that happened was meant to happen. Its all part of Gods plan and even though we don't know what that is necessarily is, HE does and he'd never steer us wrong ;) Take that next step along with me and my family in honouring God starting by fully understanding his Commandments. 
God Bless