Episode Transcript
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Exodus 20:12
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
CONSIDER THIS
The focus of the covenant takes a turn here from the relationship to God to the relationship with others. Do you see the problem with this compartmentalized thinking? “Takes a turn” is not the right phrase.
Let’s try it this way: The focus of the covenant broadens here from our relationship with God to include our relationships with others. We want to think of these relationships as separate realities, in separate airtight compartments, like putting the meat in one Tupperware container and the vegetables in another. The truth? They are all in the same container and have direct correlation with one another.
Let’s be clear—our relationship with God and our relationships with each other are distinctive relationships, yet they are all bound up together in the same seamless space. Said differently, our relationship with God includes our relationships with each other. It’s why the Bible says things like, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).
Translation: If our relationship with God doesn’t directly show up in our relationships with each other, our relationship with God is broken.
Naturally, the first place or context of relationship we have is in the home. This is why the covenant seamlessly broadens to:
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
The covenant unfolds in an ever-expanding peace—peace with God, peace in Sabbath, peace in the family, and peace in the community.
One more observation about the text of the day. It’s one of my what-ifs. What if honoring your mother and your father is not about them? What if it is about you? Honoring parents, while being for them, is not about them. It is about us, our honor, and, ultimately, it is about God’s honor. After all, according to the text, when we honor our parents, they receive honor, but we are the ones who receive the blessing. To honor another person means to confer your honor upon them. In the world, we honor people because we find them honorable. In the kingdom of God, we honor people because God has found us honorable.
Many adults find themselves in a place, looking back on their lives, where they feel as though their parents have not honored them in some form or another. It’s real. Parents have made unthinkable mistakes and brought dishonor on entire family lines.
Do we honor them? We do if our honor is for them but not about them. We do if our honor is about us and about God. We do if we desire to receive blessing from the Lord, even if it means giving honor in exchange for dishonor. Returning good for bad sounds a lot like Jesus to me.
Here’s some more good news. Some reading this will feel like it’s too late to honor their parents because they have passed on. It’s not. Even if you could not come to a place of honoring them in life, you can still honor them in death. It may be a challenge, but the cross always is.
In closing, I would be remiss to miss this opportunity to honor my mother and father. Can I say all I am and ever will be I owe to them and, in that seamless way I referenced earlier, to God, yet there is no debt whatsoever. It has been all gift. They are the absolute best, most unselfish, generous, gracious, loving, incredible people I know.
THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer.
Thank you for the gift of our parents, even the ones who were less than we hoped they would be. Help us honor them in life and in death, that we may be blessed and live long in the land. I receive your deliverance from my broken way of thinking that leads me to honor my parents or not based on whether or not I think they are honorable. I receive your deliverance into the mindset that extends honor to my parents based on the way you have honored me—even though I did not deserve your honor. Show me how I can honor my parents in life and in death. I now receive your healing of my family lineage and the reversal of generational curses into generational blessings.
It will be for your glory, for others' gain, and for my good.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!
