The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:12 (day seven)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

When discussing true discipleship Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26 & Mt 10:37)

and on His own family He said, “A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:32-35)

Family comes with a footnote.  Your family IS eternally important, but they never come before God nor come before the 1st or 2nd commandment.

Re:Verse passage –Exodus 20:12 (day five) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”

There is a sense that the 10 Commandments were given to each of the Israelites. Each person will be accountable for their obedience to these commandments. However, there is also a sense where God is giving the commandments to all of the Israelites. The applications and promises extend to the whole Hebrew nation.  Their time in the land God has given them will be cut short by disobeying this 5th commandment in particular but this principle applies to all the commandments because God takes disobedience seriously. The “promise” with the 5th commandment is not a promise of personal blessing, but rather the blessing of a people who honor God’s leadership and guidance (learned and instilled with their Father and Mother). Those chosen people will become a light to the nations- a nation to reach the nations. See Exodus 19:6. Think it’s just an Old Testament promise?  Look at 1 Peter 2:9.

Re:Verse passage –Exodus 20:12 (day four)

“Honor your father and your mother.”

A theologian once said, “honor should produce reverence, obedience, and gratitude.” We expect children to give parents (or elders) a listening ear of obedience. We can learn so much from the parent-child relationship. Have you as a parent ever caught yourself feeling an unholy emotion rise up within you when your child disobeys? I have learned to repent and practice restraint; showing mercy because my Heavenly Father offers such kindness to me. As a child there was never a time I was not in the principals’ office or getting a spanking for the sins I committed every hour! It took many years until I began to visibly honor my parents and teachers, but even then I was disobeying without being caught. I just got better at dishonoring. That is what we do as humans. We are all little children who naturally dishonor their Heavenly Father. In college, I finally began to fear the Lord. My dishonor condemned me. My sin was exceedingly sinful! A reverent, holy fear is what people need in order to come to God in true repentance. Once God changes the heart then we obey and listen to His commands. This translates as love, devotion, and gratitude for the immeasurable riches of His grace which He lavishes on us who do not deserve it.

Byron Pitts
Director of Community Missions & Evangelism

Re:Verse passage –Exodus 20:12 (day three)

“Honor your father and your mother.”

After establishing the necessity of a rightly-calibrated life with God, the Ten Commandments locates a society’s robustness in the family system. One could imagine a law code that teaches societal order by starting with something other than family: “Honor the state” or “Honor the king” or “Honor the traditions” or even “Honor the religious precepts.” None of these other things, though important and influential, brings to human life what “father and mother” brings. Contained within that construct is nurture, biological attachment, shared history, and mutual formation of the inner life (adoption’s highly-cherished status arises precisely from the willingness to extend love despite the absence of biological attachment). Principles or codes or offices establish ideology, not character. Only the parent-child nexus will produce societies with the empathy that makes peace and progress possible.

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:12 (day two) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

Isn’t it incredible that God gives us such a wonderful promise for obeying his command. He certainly does not have to do that. We have all parented using the always effective “because I said so” trope. If ever there was a parent who could get away with that line, surely it’s the Lord. Yet, he doesn’t. He says by given honor to your parents who nurtured and cared for you before you even remember it, at your most innocent and vulnerable stage, then you will be blessed.

The Christian walk is not one that looks to do things for what we might get out of it. That is not what Jesus taught, or how he lived. We act or do not act because it brings glory to our Heavenly Father, and in his great design and mercy He has made provision to bless us. Isn’t our God amazing?

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 2:8-11 (day seven)

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

When God calls us to a Sabbath rest many respond that we are too busy to rest.  We try to devise ways to turn 7 days into 8, while God asks us to turn 7 days into 6. Two books that have been particularly helpful for me on this issue are The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson and The Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles E. Hummel.

Both of these works set forth a way to turn busyness into a productiveness that allows a Sabbath.  As Peterson puts it we are too busy because we are prideful (wanting to do everything ourselves) or because we are lazy (and let everyone else in our lives determine our schedule), but there is a way to Sabbath rest if we will be intentional with our lives and seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 2:8-11 (day six)

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

This wonderful command takes into account two human frailties, our ability to only do one thing at a time (as compared to God), and the fractured nature of our minds. The aim of God’s prescribed rest is joy; joy in God, family, and the fruit of our labor. During a week of labor it is hard to slow down long enough to enjoy anything, much less focus or rest. So God says, “Rest…take time to enjoy me and one another, and whether a lot or little enjoy the fruit of your hard work.”

Jesus got so bent out of shape with the Pharisees because they completely sucked any joy or rest to be had in the Sabath. It became more work. So, remember God commands us slow down to enjoy what he has done.

Don’t take the joy out of your rest!

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 2:8-11 (day five)

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

There many instances where the scriptures are not kind to the human race.  We see people (just like us) with flaws and weaknesses. We read about moral failure, disobedience, and pride (all are sin) in some of our most beloved bible characters. Exodus 20 is no exception.  We are commanded to remember the sabbath.  Seems to me, if I had heard the voice of God speak these words, I would never forget them much less forget to follow them.  Yet, the premise is that we will forget.  And, we have. What are other qualities and promises of God we forget?  His faithfulness? His loving kindness? His patience? His power? His holiness?… to name a few.

How important is this command to rest and set apart a day for attention and affection for God?  It’s important enough that He would firmly tell us not to forget!

Perhaps spending some time to remember (journal these)things in scripture (God’s nature and character, God’s promises, God’s warnings, God’s commandments) that are significant to the strength and formation of our faith and the depth of our understanding and relationship with God, would be a valuable exercise today.