Reality in Real Life Strikes!

-non sequitur

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Honoring God/Honoring Your Father and Your Mother

-Meme

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In our greater area there is so much new building going on-- constantly.

Seems each week we see another lovely old homestead and all their beautiful trees and rolling land bulldozed into piles with the beautiful home in rubble.

Society is so bent on being in a hurry to destroy and remove the past only to build venues, warehouses, and ugly high-rise apartment living.

This generation, generally, doesn't seem to desire a home and land with trees and gardens, nor a spouse or children- only pets.

Seems that almost nothing is appreciated, treasured, or loved.

Even a righteous life well lived for the LORD is disrespected and destroyed by family members for their own selfish reasons.

Truth for Life     

Honoring Parents, Honoring God/Honor your father and your mother./Exodus 20:12

The fifth commandment is simultaneously a simple instruction and an indispensable element of the well-being of entire societies. When the Lord gives the command “Honor your father and mother,” He is laying down the blueprint for maintaining the stability of families, communities, and nations.

What does it mean to honor your parents? The word for “honor” carries the notion of weight and heaviness; children ought to feel the weight of respect for their parents. Parents are owed such regard because God has placed them in their roles, and the stewardship of such a role is worth its weight in honor. While children are in view here, the Bible also has much to say about parenting that honors God (see Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21).

How does a child display this honor? In several ways. For one, a child ought to show practical respect to his or her parents. This can be as simple as speaking well of our parents, showing them courtesy, looking them in the eye, and addressing them with a due sense of deference. 

Second, it involves genuine love; there should be heartfelt expressions of affection between parents and their children. 

Third, unless it would involve disobeying God, a child ought to obey what his or her mom and dad say. This expectation is found all over Proverbs: for example, “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). 

Fourth, a child should submit to their parents’ discipline. All good parents discipline their children (though it must not be done in anger nor vindictively or disproportionately), and children ought to trust that such discipline is for their good (Hebrews 12:5-11).

In ancient Israel, respect for parents was valued so highly that those who disregarded it flagrantly or persistently faced the death penalty (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). Why such a significant consequence? Because the home provides a vital training ground, the success of which affects how the child will relate to authorities of all kinds. 

We never outrun authority in our lives. There are political authorities we are called to obey (Romans 13:1-7), spiritual authorities we are to respect (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12), and those of advanced years we are commanded to honor (Leviticus 19:32). 

Most significantly, when children learn to honor their parents, even despite their parents’ many imperfections, they learn what it means to honor our perfect heavenly Father. Reverence for parents is an integral part of reverence for God. Because their authority is God-given, to honor them is to honor God Himself.

So if you are a parent with children at home, it is not loving (though it may be easier) to fail to insist that your children honor you. 

And if you are an adult with parents still living, it is a matter of obedience to God that you show them the honor they are due, not according to how well (or otherwise) you feel they raised you but according to the position the Lord gave them. As you honor them, you will be pleasing Him and showing those around you that God-given authority, when exercised in a godly way, is a blessing to all.

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"Blue Bold" is my "highlight, scripture italicized, with my own paragraph separations

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A gracious Thank You to Alistair Begg and his people.

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Terrifying Storm Clouds

What do you do when you see a terribly dangerous "storm" arising around certain people, but your adult child is able to make his own decisions?

You can "see" all of "this" will turn out in an awful way, but your adult child says he can handle it.

He thinks he will handle it. 

He is an adult and he is in charge of himself, but it turns out that "they" know exactly how to control others...and so, in reality, he can't handle it. 

Thus begins your precious child's life caught in a "web" of control that you can not solve. 

The LORD will solve it His Way

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What do you do?

Pray for your child! 

For the rest of your life, pray for this child!

Rest in the LORD as you pray for this child!

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Unjust Suffering

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Proverbs 3:3-5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will make your paths straight.

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Kindness and Respect

 1 Peter 3:7-9

..."You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing."...

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Not one thing in these verses sound cruel, mean, vicious, controlling, disrespectful, violent, manipulating, crazy-making, lying, tricking, abusive...

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Honor Your Mother and Father is for real

~From another mom 

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Exodus 20:12

..."“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.`"...

And the one after that is pretty good also...

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Grieving for the mother who sent this to us.

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'An Estranged Child Should Think About This' - Dennis Prager

"It is harder on the parent to have a child who does not talk to them -

 - than it is to have had a child who loved them and died."

~Dennis Prager, Our Broken Culture is Getting Worse 

(A.I. Isn’t Helping)

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The Hatred for Others Brings out the Worst in You.

 "When you hate certain people for your own warped reasons, you actually have no humane respect or dignity for them."

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-Anonymous

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This is the way the LORD planned it to be.

Colossians 3:12-17

..."So, as those who have been chosen of God, 

holy and beloved, 

put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, 

gentleness and patience; 

bearing with one another, and forgiving each other,

 whoever has a complaint against anyone; 

just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Beyond all these things put on love, 

which is the perfect bond of unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, 

to which indeed you were called in one body; 

and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, 

with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another 

with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 

singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in word or deed, 

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks through Him to God the Father."...

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KINDNESS, CARE, & LOVE

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