God Promises Long Life in His Land

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”
 
THIS is the fifth of the Ten Commandments. The apostle Paul wrote of this command as he taught on family relationships: “Honor your father and mother” - which is the first commandment with a promise. (Ephesians 6:2)
   God’s promised long life is a promise for a nation that lives under God’s laws, principles and promises. A nation will live long when the people’s hearts and minds esteem parents as leaders in the household and respect their position. This extends to adult children as well as young children.
   God’s Word directs the family relationship to be of mutual honor. As Paul also wrote in Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. These are two more keys to long life for a nation. Parents are not to frustrate their children with inappropriate rules and commands. And the LORD’s Word is to be the foundation of each family. Parents must honor God as the first three commandments decree. They are to live with integrity into the Bible’s teachings. In turn, parents must instruct their children to do the same.
   The parents’ responsibility is very clear in Deuteronomy 6:6-8 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Commandments on one’s heart become your way of life.
   If parents reject God and fail to impress the LORD’s commands upon their children, how will the children know God? How will children understand his commands and know their responsibility in a Christian household? And is there any way children can live well in their community if others do not know God’s truth?
   A nation might survive in chaos, but it will not thrive in God’s presence if God’s law does not guide its people’s lives. History and current events prove this is true. Dishonoring the law leads to dishonoring one another. Families, communities and nations suffer. Children are not meant to rule the home, the schools, the church or any aspect of life. They are to be taught and nurtured with God’s wisdom, so they will one day properly rule the next generation.
   God’s commands taught and obeyed at home extend into the church, government and all organizations to do good for one another. A people together in God will be together in one purpose in the land he has given them.   
 
Note: On vacation. Next lesson will be around July 31.