(Prov 23:22-25 CEV) Pay attention to your father, and don’t neglect your mother when she grows old. Invest in truth and wisdom, discipline and good sense, and don’t part with them. Make your father truly happy by living right and showing sound judgment. Make your parents proud, especially your mother.
This morning we continue our series, “Unlocking the Power of Proverbs – Walking in the Wisdom of God.” This is the 18th Saying: a Call to Attention of the Wisdom of Parents. This passage is chock-full of wisdom for the son and daughter. In these verses Solomon gives us commands and instructions, and the motivation to carry them out. The more I read what Solomon is telling us, as children, the more I hear the word “honor” in my spirit. To me this all boils down to honor. This is a word my eldest son and I have been talking a great deal about lately. He is only a few weeks away from heading off to college and I want him to know that I expect him to honor the investment we have made in his life by living in accordance with the Word and the instructions we have given him. And we are not asking him to do anything that we don’t do. I am 38 years old and I still seek to honor my mother daily. I can attribute many of my life’s successes to the parenting she gave me and the weight I put on her instruction. Let me explain. When faced with many of life’s forks in the road, I considered what my mother would do, putting more weight on what was right than what was wrong, thereby honoring her with my life and living. I expect our children do the same. Our heavenly Father, no doubt, expects no less from all of us.
So what does this mean to you today? Let’s glean a few golden nuggets from this passage:
1. Don’t allow the passage of time to devalue the wisdom of your parents. Our heavenly Father makes this clear through Solomon. We are not to neglect what our parents told us, even when they are old and we are grown.
2. Commit to life-long learning. Continue to invest in yourself so that you can build upon the foundation your parents established in you; but make sure that you are building upon their foundation and not discarding it.
3. Honor your parents by making sound decisions. Flowers are good, gifts are great, but the best way to truly honor our parents is by making decisions that line up with the counsel they imparted in you. When you give more weight to what is right (what will please them), over what is wrong (what will bring dishonor and disgrace to their name), then you will not only make them happy, but you will be honoring them in the process.
4. Remember that you are an ambassador. I remember one time when the trendy thing to do was to cut our your jeans. I went home, cut up my favorite jeans, and attempted to go outside. My mother stopped me in the kitchen and quickly let me know that I could not go outside looking like that because I represented her. She said, “If you could go outside, looking like a fool, and only represent yourself, I would let you. But the problem is that you represent me and I can’t allow you to represent me like that.” To this day I still seek to represent my mother well and we must all do the same. Moreover, we are also representing our heavenly Father daily. So please don’t do anything that will dishonor and disgrace your earthly parents or heavenly Father!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for this reminder this morning. I thank You for blessing me with earthly parents and I declare, by faith, that I will honor their investment in me by living a life that bring honor to their name. When faced with tough decisions I will put more weight on what they taught me, on the hard-right, than on what the world is so accustomed to today, which is the easy-wrong. Furthermore, You are my heavenly Father, and I also seek to represent You well daily. I am an ambassador for Your Kingdom and I refuse to do anything that will misrepresent what You stand for. I will bring honor to You and my earthly parents today and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
