Fear Your Parents?
Friday's Devotion (2-8-08)
"Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:3 (KJV)
Now "fear" in this verse is referring that reverential fear that we should also have for the Lord. It's not a fear that says we should be afraid to go to them or afraid of them, but it's a respect thing. It's respecting them and obeying them at all times. The Lord appoints all authority, so that means that He also appointed us our parents and our parents are our authority until we're out of their house. Even when we are out of their house we're to still honor them, but we can lead our own lives. We should never disrespect our parents, but I can't say that I'm not guilty of it myself.
On a sad note, some kids literally do fear their parents in the way that they're absolutely terrified to go to them. When a problem arises your kid should have a sense of security that they can come to you and get advice, but some parents have beaten or yelled the wrong kind of fear into their children. Their kids think and in these cases are usually right that if they go to their parents that they'll get hit or yelled at. That's dangerous because if they can't go to you, who will they go to? They're going to go and get their advice from someone else and that may not be the best advice.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins as we forgive all those who've sinned against us. Please help us to honor our parents and especially to honor you, also help the parents to do what's right for their children. In Jesus name. A-men!
God bless!