“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12 (NIV)
Your parents are the first authority figures God put in your life, and your first experience of authority tends to shape your reaction to other authority figures. If you’ve seen authority used well, you will tend to respect it, otherwise you will tend to be suspicious of it. You will want to resist authority and establish your independence from it.
The reason family life is so important to the good of a nation is that respect for authority is learned in the home. If it breaks down there, it will be a growing strain on the fabric of national life. The command says, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land.” A culture cannot thrive when respect for authority breaks down.
Our experiences of family life can vary greatly. Perhaps you enjoyed the blessing of being raised in a stable and loving home, or perhaps the opposite is true. Maybe you are already squirming inside, because the whole subject of your mom or dad is so painful that even the mention of it has your defenses up.
You may be afraid that the Word of God is going to wound you today. Why do you think that? Because your parents hurt you, and they were the first authority figures in your life. You assume God is like them and He’s going to do the same. The God of the Bible is good and He wants to do you good. Don’t let the warped authority of your parents blind you to God’s loving authority.
What was your first experience of authority like?
