Mother’s Day
Honoring Your Parents
Ephesians 6:2-3 “Honor your father and mother. This is the first of the Ten Commandments that ends with a promise “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
Every parent is flawed.
We wouldn’t be alive without them.
God chose their DNA to make you unique.
Psalm 139:13 “God knit me together in my mother’s womb and recorded every day of my life before I was born.”
God was more interested in creating you than he was in their parenting skills.
As a child, I honor my mother and father by obeying them.
Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents; this is the right thing to do because
God has placed them in authority over you.”
One of the most important life skills we learn in life is how to respond and relate to authority.
As a young adult, I honor my parents by respecting them.
Leviticus 19:3 “Each of you must respect his mother and father.”
Hebrews 12:9 “We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us.”
Respect has two parts: the first part is to accept and forgive them.
The second part of respect is listening to them.
Proverbs 13:1 “Intelligent children listen to their parents; foolish children do their own thing.”
Proverbs 23:22 “Listen to your father’s advice and don’t despise your mother’s experience.”
God gave you your parents for a reason-to become the person He wants you to be.
Proverbs 6:20-23 “Do what your father tells you, and never forget what your mother teaches you. Keep their words with you always, locked in your heart. Their instructions will lead you, protect you, and advise you. Their instructions are like a lamp; their corrections can teach you how to live.”
As an adult, I honor my parents by appreciating them.
Proverbs 23:22 “When your mother is old, show her your appreciation.”
We also need to appreciate their sacrifice.
The Western and Southern Financial Group estimates that it takes $292,017 to raise a child to eighteen years of age.
By the time a child reaches 18, a mother has had to handle some extra 18,000 hours of child-generated work.
Proverbs 23:25 “Give your parents joy! May she who gave you birth be happy.”
A second way we honor our parents is by providing for them.
I Timothy 5:4,8 if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God…Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Matthew 18:6 If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
God is telling us to face what happened and deal with it.
Romans 12:18,19,21 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Psalm 27:10 “My father and my mother may abandon me but the Lord will take care of
