Ephesians 6:1-4
Ephesians 6:1-4
New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” which is the first commandment with a promise 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
My Thoughts:
- Only 4 verses today, so let’s look at (v. 1) we read “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
- Now Paul moves to the children telling them to obey their parents. This one sound a lot like the 5th Commandment to me (Exodus 20:12). So why do I bring that up? Well it is because I hear too many people telling me that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross. If this was true them why did Jesus live by them and next why are the apostles reinforcing them?
- This verse makes me think about the life of my parents and the way I look at them. 1) Up until I was about 10 years old, they can do no wrong. 2) Then until I was about 25 years old, they knew nothing. 3) And now that I am (well let’s just say I am a little older than 25) Well maybe they were not so stupid after all.
- The only other thing I would like to say on this area is about the word “obey” I see this type of obedience as the same type that we should give Christ, the type that comes for the heart. I think it comes back to how we love our spouses, if we cannot love our family, friends and yes even those how wish us harm with the unconditional love that Christ has for us. How can we truly ever know Him?
- (v. 2) we read “Honor your father and mother” which is the first commandment with a promise”.
- Paul here is reinforcing the commandments to show people that God’s laws are still in effect and that we should never disregard them. Please understand we are not saved but the law, but we are required to live by the law.
- “which is the first commandment with a promise”. I love reading this part; we see that there is much more to this commandment than just obeying my parents. I see a promise that tells me; if I love the way God intended for me to love, life will be good. Yes there will still be hard times but it is ok. When we love like this our faith will carry us through anything.
- Let’s finish with (v. 4) “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord”
- Now we come back to the man. God is telling us not to over extend our rights as the head of the house hold. Just like with our spouses we must be willing to sacrifice our happiness and yes even our lives if needed to insure theirs.
- And lastly I see that it is the responsibly of the father to insure our children are brought up in the ways of the Lord. I would like to reinforce the part about how it is the fathers responsibility to insure this, I see more women bring the children in to my church without the father. As head of the house hold we must set the example for our children.
Thought of the Day
“When our daughter was 3 years old, my wife and I introduced her to the “fine art” of dishwashing. It amuses me that many preschoolers want to wash dishes but parents refuse to let them. Then, when they become teenagers and no longer desire to clean plates, parents insist that they do.
The real issue, of course, is not doing dishes. Rather, it has to do with loving, honoring, and obeying God. As children love, honor, and obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1, 2, 3), they are showing respect for God. And when they do, they find meaning and purpose in their lives.
We are living in a world in which teen suicide is a disturbing reality. Why such despair? Too many young people have not found a reason for living. They don’t know the joy of a relationship with God.
In Malachi 1:6, God had to remind His people that He was their Father, because their behavior reflected that they had forgotten their relationship to Him. Not only had they forgotten that God was their Father but also that He was their Master, and they had failed to serve Him.
We can all live meaningful and purposeful lives. How? By knowing God as our heavenly Father, and obeying Him as our Master and Lord. —Albert Lee
Grant us, Father, hearts that love You,
Hearts that serve You day by day;
Help us find in You our purpose
For the things we do and say. —Fitzhugh
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- How do you think Romans 1:30 and 2 Timothy 3:2 compare to today topic?
- How do you interact with your parents?
- What other things do you see in the text?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Continue to have a prayer list and let the new people know you are praying for them.
- Pray with them and ask for the following;
- For God to bring understanding of your parents and their lives to you.
- For God to strengthen your relationships with others.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- Let’s stay with (Exodus 21:12) for today’s prayer verse. Think about your relationship and parents and your children and you pray.
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First off I would like to tell Victoria I enjoy reading her comments. Like Amalia, you get to the heart of the matter. Thanks. These verses are so much more than just telling kids to respect parents and parents to respect their kids. This premise is wonderful but how often do you see it these days. God in his infinite wisdom saw what was coming in these days. You hear the news and every day ther is kids who kill their parents or parents who kill their kids. This is terrible to us but think what it does to our Father. I feel that by Paul trying to teach us, as children and parents, how to treat and love each other, we will also learn how to love our Father. Hopefully this will also help us to understand more of how our Father loves us. I tried to be the perfect child until my teens. Then I rebelled but even that was a nice rebellion. Now as a parent I have tried to raise my boys to respect me, their grandma and women in general. I tried to raise them to respect their father but since he has never been in their lives, it is hard for them. I have never said anything bad about him to them but they are not dumb. Kids are not dumb. My boys are 18 now and I guess the true test of their raising is coming.
I agree the whole point of chapter 5 and even in to chapter 6 is showing respect and love to each other no matter what are station in life is. And as for your boys, they are very nice and will mannered you should be very proud of them.
There’s a passage in Levt. or Deut. that talks about if a child is disodient and a drunk to take him by the hand to the elders and have him stoned. This had a big impact on my child rearing. It forced me to see the upbringing of my child as a life and death situation. It wasn’t then just limited to the moment, like the moment I’m frustrated and feel like giving in to keep the peace or beat him out of frustration, but instead neither approach was right I need to have guidelines to raising a responsible adult. Do I want to give my child life and a better life at that, or disorder and ultimately death. Love, or confusion and self satisfation.
It’s interesting here how Paul didn’t go through all the roles. He said obey your parents, but an emphaises was place on the father’s role. I wonder if it had to do with the idea that the father role relects on the Father’s role in heaven over us; or that the role needs to be reinforced since the father tends to be more distant than the Mom? A father may feel naturally disconnected and may have unrealistic expectations of the child, while the Mom has a natural tenderness and compassion. A mother’s faults could probably be over looked easier since more often she is closer to the kids than the father. A child could also come to expect more of their fathers than the mothers, maybe that’s why Paul reminds father to be on guard to not to discourage or push them away. I wonder if that’s true of boys, as it is in girls. . Or could it just be that men then to be to harsh. Whatever the reason was, today we could see that the father’s role definetly needs to be addressed.
I think the hardest job is to raise children, and too many times we leave it to the mother and the father is just there, this role of the father and how much should he be involved has always been around and always will be. All we can do as parents is pray that we did not mess up so bad that our children will suffer from it. And hope when they become parents they do it just a little better than we did.
First of all I would like to thank each of you for your kind welcome.
As has already been noted in this discussion, it is clear that the bond between parent and child is another example of what our relationship with God should be like (just as the marriage relationship is a also a metaphor for this relationship). What was Christ’s relationship with His Father like when He was here on earth? It was one of constant connection and communication – Christ spent a significant amount of time praying, praising, and He suffered untold agony upon separation from His Father. I think this is an awesome example of what our relationships with our parents (and parents’ relationships with their children) can aspire to, if we are consecrated to God.
Romans 1:30 and 2 Timothy 3:2 both talk of disobedience to parents as a sign of a debased mind (Romans 1:28) and a sign of perilous last days (2 Timothy 3:1). In these texts, I think there is the underlying message that cutting ourselves off from our parents—our mortal lifegivers AND our eternal Lifegiver—is an unwise and destructive thing to do. Though I am old enough to physically survive without my parents, there is absolutely an emotional part of me that would die if they were to pass away. Likewise, if I am cut off (through my own disobedience) from my Heavenly Father, the result is fatal, right? I will surely die. So, in so many words, I feel like this passage is saying, choose life, not death! This is an awe-inspiring lesson to me.
Praise God, that He is so ready and willing to be a Father to the fatherless in this world—Psalm 10:14 says, “But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, to repay it by Your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.” And Psalm 27:9,10 says, “Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me.”
I agree and for me I like to reflect on Psalms 33, and praise Him for allowing this child to be with Him.