Exodus 20:12
What is the Fifth Commandment?
Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.Help your Children Obey the Command to “Honor Your Parents”
Be the kinds of fathers and mothers that children can honor. All children ought to honor their parents, but how much better it is when we live honorable lives before them!
You cannot guarantee how your children will turn out. God gave them each a will. You can’t control them, but you can control you.
Encourage the 5th Commandment: Love Your Children
Love is not giving your children what they want, but what they need.
Comfort
Hug your children! When the prodigal son came home—a grown man who had been away in riotous living—“when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20b).
Their pain is just as real as yours. Give comfort, and say, “I understand, and I hope it will feel better later.”
Listening Ears
We think we listen, but one of the finest forms of communication is saying nothing. When they start talking, let ‘em talk, especially if they have a problem. They need to know that Mom and Dad love them, regardless.
Blessing
The Bible teaches that we have an awesome weapon called blessing. Imagine what it does to a child, when a dad picks him up in his arms, and says, “In the name of Jesus, my child, I bless you.”
Get on your knees, and pray for your children by name. The most loving thing you can do is to call them before the throne of grace in prayers.
Encourage the 5th Commandment: Lift Up Your Children
Wise encouragement is better than lavish praise.
Praise says, “You are great because you did something”—good grades, a clean room, etc. There is nothing wrong with this, but it says to the child, “I get approval when I do good. But when my performance is bad, my acceptance goes down, and my self-image goes down with it.”
But encouragement values a child not primarily for who the child is. Encouragement is saying, “You can do it. I’m so grateful for you.”
Encourage the 5th Commandment: Limit Your Children
When God put Adam and Eve in Eden, He gave them all they needed, but He also gave them limits.
God said about Eli the priest, “I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them” (1 Samuel 3:13).
A child will push against the limits and restrictions that you give, and if the boundaries move, that child will have no security. You need firm, reasonable limits in your home. That is why we have the Ten Commandments of God.
Encourage the 5th Commandment: Lead Your Children
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
Mom and Dad, it needs to be you who is training them in contentment, courage, courtesy, discernment, fairness, friendliness, generosity, gentleness, helpfulness, honesty, humility, kindness, obedience, orderliness, patience, persistence, self-control, tactfulness, thankfulness, thriftiness, and wisdom.
Encourage the 5th Commandment: Laugh with Your Children
Let your home be filled with joy. Lighten up.
The Bible has so many wonderful things to say about a merry heart. Did you know that humans are the only creatures of God who can laugh, and weep, and blush? God made us in His image, and gave us the gift of laughter.
Let your children see you laugh—at yourself, and at your mistakes. Here’s the principle: serious situations call for laughter. Let your kids see you laugh in time of trouble, because it means that God is over it all.To read more on this topic, click here.
