"Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you."
Honor you mother and father not because they are worth honoring, but because the Lord has commanded it. Some of us have had great and God fearing parents, but many aren't so fortunate. Some parents do not deserve respect but we do not honor parents based on what they deserve for God does not honor us that way. We honor our parents based on God's command so that we might live long and that it might go well with us. We honor our parents for our sake, not for theirs.
Honor and obedience are neither the same. One can obey their parents without honoring them. Give your parents the proper respect and do not treat them with contempt or bitterness. Submit to them insofar as it is not destructive because Christ first submitted to you. When you honor your parents, you are not honoring them, but Christ and his words. Again it matters little what they deserve, but the spirit of submission is the spirit of freedom.
We are to be mutually subordinate out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21). When we submit to others, do not be surprised if they return the favor. Only in submission are we free at last to love unconditionally and to value others above ourselves.
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