file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940915.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                            Thurs., Sept. 15, 1994
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READ: Ephesians 6:1-4



                         "HONOR YOUR PARENTS"

               "Honor your father and your mother, that 
                 your days may be long upon the land."

                            Exodus 20:12

It was a sad, unsigned letter from an elderly mother. "I have an 
only son," she wrote, "who does all sorts of things for other 
people but hates to do anything for me. He rarely visits me 
although I live only 8 minutes away. He seldom even phones."

God puts a high priority on family relationships throughout life -
- so says the fifth commandment. On the surface it seems directed 
exclusively to children, but parents must set the example. 
Children learn to honor, respect, obey their parents when they see 
Mom and Dad honoring one another, when they feel respected, 
affirmed, and loved by their parents, and when they observe their 
obedience to God. This commandment to children actually touches us 
all. 

How many of us have been as thoughtful of our parents as we could 
have been? And who of us as parents have been to our children all 
that we should have been? Although we've broken this commandment, 
our guilt has been removed by Jesus' death on the cross. He gives 
the courage to ask forgiveness of our children and our parents. 
And if they are not living, we can show the sincerity of our 
repentance by strengthening ur other family relationships. 

We honor our Father when we honor our parents. 

- Dennis J. DeHaan

Children who honor their parents
Are doing what's good in God's sight;
Parents who love and admonish
Are teaching to do what is right.

- Sper

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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Honoring our parents is learned by example. 

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 15-18

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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio Bible 
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