The Plumbline

Life Hack #17: Listen with respect to the father who raised you, and when your mother grows old, don’t neglect her. Buy truth—don’t sell it for love or money; buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight. Parents rejoice when their children turn out well; wise children become proud parents. So make your father happy! Make your mother proud! (Proverbs 23:22-25) In today's culture, we might find that parents have become "chums" to their kids rather than parents. The move toward "befriending" the child has brought about a kind of disrespect which society sees manifest in a multitude of ways - everything from the simple rebellions of back talk, crossing boundaries with too much ease, disrespecting teachers at school, engaging in rebellious behaviors, and keeping wrong company. Parents have a role in raising their kids - more than just to put food on the table and clothes on their back - just as much as kids have a role in bringing respect and honor to their parents. Tha...

I just want to pause for a moment or two today to take a little time for those who are caregivers of one or both of their parents.  In today's rush-rush, get it all done world, we sometimes work ourselves to a frazzle and forget about the many blessings taking care of this loved one actually places in our lives.  I know there are moments when mom, with failing eyesight can't see what she cannot see, creating a little more more work for me in the long run; and her hearing becoming less and less acute, that I just want to throw up my hands and get a little frustrated when I have to repeat what has just been said not once, but multiple times until she gets it.  Yet, in the moments in between those moments of seeing the little extra work, or repeating the same things again, I relish the times we spend just hanging together as companions.  To those who are caregivers, I salute you.  I reach out to you with a heart of understanding, knowing full-well that your life g...

Parents don't seem to get the same respect they once received, do they?  In today's culture, parents become "chums" to their kids, rather than parents. The move toward "befriending" the child has brought about a kind of disrespect which society sees manifest in a multitude of ways - everything from the simple rebellions of back talk, crossing boundaries with too much ease, up to dropping out of school, engaging in rebellious behaviors, and keeping wrong company.  No wonder our sixteenth principle deals with the attitude we are to have toward our kids and the attitude they are to exhibit toward us!  Parents have a role in raising their kids - more than just to put food on the table and clothes on their back - just as much as kids have a role in bringing respect and honor to their parents.  That said, the two roles need to be recognized, respected, and upheld. Listen with respect to the father who raised you,   and when your mother grows old, don’t neglec...

Honor:  To hold in high respect; confers a combination of liking and respect; high respect as for worth or merit.  The passage today speaks about the "first commandment that has a promise attached to it".  Many commandments in the Bible are simply to be obeyed as "boundaries" over our lives - the provide protection in some form or another.  For example, some of the commandments are "relationship" based - ones like don't commit adultery (get into bed with another person's spouse and your own relationship will crumble).  Others are designed to ensure some semblance of control over our emotions - like the command to not covet (desiring what others have and never being content in our present circumstance).  Still others are clear boundaries on who is to be first in our lives - like the command to have no other god but God himself (give him first place - make no room for any other thing to be first in your life).  Yet, these commands don't come with...

It seems parents are just not held in the same "honor" as they were in times past.  Look at an old episode of the Waltons, Leave it to Beaver, or Little House on the Prairie and compare the "honor" a parent received in the past with how a parent is treated today!  You may be saying, "Yeah, but come on, those shows depicted the ways families should be!"  Exactly!  the fact remains, we have been instructed to "honor" our parents. 12  “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you."  (Exodus 20:12 New Living Translation) It is a command with a promise - one of those "meet this" and "get this" kind of deals!  This is our fifth in a series of "rules" given to us - designed to keep us safe from pitfalls.  In this "rule" of living, God reminds us of the importance of honoring our parents - giving them respect, esteeming their "skill...