What does honoring parents look like when we’re adults? Is it even possible in our fragmented world? How does God expect us to honor our parents when they may have hurt us and where, sometimes, distance seems a wiser and less complicated option?

Clearly, most of us carry tons of emotional baggage when it comes to our relationship with our parents. Spending time with family can be a huge stress factor for many. We prefer to retreat more and communicate less because relating to parents can set off triggers that we didn’t even know existed.

While “Honor your father and your mother…” is the fifth of the Ten Commandments, as adults we tend to dismiss the notion as if it were a concept reserved for children.

And, yet, God commands us – all of us – to honor our parents.

But, here’s the thing: God never says that obeying Him would be easy or uncomplicated. But neither does He ever walk away after asking us to follow Him. He comes alongside us on the journey – and He gives us every resource we need for it.

Over this 7-day Bible Plan, we’ll dive into the Naomi and Ruth story and glean from their narrative. And we’ll take what we learn back to God – because, like His other commands, following this one is impossible apart from His grace.

There are two ways you can do this devotional: One is on YouVersion; or if you prefer, you can download the pdf and read it over it the next few days.

Friends, the purpose of this devotional is not that we would be cowed down by guilt and assuage our shame by sending a bunch of unnecessarily expensive flowers to our parents. God doesn’t guilt-trip or arm-twist us into doing anything. If God convicts us, He will give you and me the power to change from the inside out. The purpose of this Bible Plan is that we would take back what the enemy tries to destroy – yup, even if that’s a relationship with a parent.

Before I sign off, I would caution us that honoring our parents doesn’t mean implicit obedience or giving them permission to manipulate our choices or our marriages. But I would also encourage us to consider that we honor God by honoring our parents.

Would you allow me to close this up with a prayer: Father God, When You call us to honor our parents, You also equip us with the emotional and spiritual resources to follow that command. We thank You that You call us to do things that are beyond our personal ability because, in that, we depend on You, instead of on ourselves. We pray for healing where there has been hurt,  release where we feel trapped and peace where there has been entrenched bitterness. In Jesus’ name, Amen

 

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Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash