PT-3 "The Submission of Children" (Eph. 6:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/7/2019 11:10 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-3 “The Submission of Children”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:  “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 BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.”

 

            What does it mean to honor your parents?  I suppose that there are many ways we can honor our parents, but one way is to take care of the parents when they cannot take care of themselves.  When a child is born the parents spend a lot of time and effort, along with a lot of  money to care for that child, which takes place on most occasions for around twenty years, and so when the parents get older they are to take care of their aging parents.  I have seen this done in my family and most of it was done by my two sisters, (one has a birthday today, and her age will remain a secret).  I have to say that there were no regrets from the way that they cared for our parents.  My wife is not taking care of the financial situation with her almost 102 year old father who does live in a nursing home, but still has many things that are done by my wife.  There are things that we as a couple cannot do as we take few trips because of we feel we need to stay close to her dad.  The point in all of this is that what I have written about is giving honor to ones parents as spoken of in the Word of God.

 

            As one goes through the gospels we see that the Pharisees in Jesus’ day did not follow this giving honor to their parents and you can read about this in Matthew 15:1-6 “1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2  "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." 3 And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 "For God said, ’HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ’HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ 5 "But you say, ’Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God," 6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.”

 

            One can find how to honor and obey their parents by reading the book of Proverbs.  This book was written by Solomon, who by the way did not follow his own writings when he got older, but his book has much wisdom in it to help children as it was written for the benefit of his son, and we can gleam from it as well.  The book of Proverbs can give much wisdom to those who read it.  If you are up to the challenge then begin at the beginning of the month and read through the book of Proverbs one chapter a day.  This will work out good for the months that have 31 days in them, and the other months one will have to read two or three chapters on that last day.  I believe that you will find this a worthwhile thing to do.  In reading this book, either as a child or as a parent much will be learned for both children and parents.

 

            John MacArthur writes “An old Chinese proverb says, ‘One generation plants the trees and the next gets the shade.’  The opportunities and freedoms we have to live and practice our faith were won by our forefathers centuries ago and passed on to us by those in between.  Children raised in Christian families are blessed with the fruit from spiritual trees planted many years earlier by parents and grandparents.  Conversely, it takes three or four generations to reverse the effects of the one wicked group of fathers (cf. Ex. 20:5; 34:7; Num. 14:18; Deut 5:9).  The blessings we have from the preaching, teaching, and fellowship of our local church are fruit of the dedication and sacrifice of believers who have gone before us.”  I can say that the church that I go to began before the civil war in our country, and one can read about the history of our church on the website by clicking on the history tab.  https://firstbaptistelyria.org/  click on the “About Us” and then scroll down to the history tab and click on it.  I am very thankful to be attending a church that God has blessed for over 180 years.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the many things that my sisters did for our parents, and I am thankful for the Lord bringing our family to the church we attend even though when we had to leave our former church which we attended for 32 years, it has been a blessing to be where we are now.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to be filled by the Holy Spirit so that He will keep me from pride and bring humility into my life.

Quotation from "Love in Action"  "Encourager' is one of the names of the Holy Spirit according to the King James Bible.  The title 'Comforter' translates to the word paraclete which means 'to encourage.'  When we encourage people, we live out the ministry of the third Person of the Trinity.  He is the Encourager."

 

9/7/2019 11:43 AM