If We Ignore This Command, We Lose Big Time

This Sunday is Mother's Day in the U.S., and I hope Christians realize there's a biblical principle behind this secular holiday.

As our culture declines morally, there's an increasing percentage of adult children cutting off contact with their parents. There are valid reasons to restrict contact with abusive, drug addicted, or criminal parents, but that’s not the force behind this movement. 

Adult children are claiming their parents are “toxic” or “unsafe.” But what they mean is that their parents fail to measure up to their standards. For the most part, these adult children are simply unforgiving and ungrateful, and they're unwilling to act like adults in their relationship with their parents. They're judging their parents without first judging themselves, claiming they're “victims” (Matthew 7:1-5).

Proverbs 18:1 and 30:11-12 describe this attitude.

Ungodly psychological teachings encourage these estrangements, and some present their principles as Christian even though they contradict Scripture (e.g., Boundaries). 

Professing Christians who cut off contact deny the power and purpose of God’s command to honor parents (Ephesians 6:2-3). Jesus says they're worshiping God in vain (Matthew 15:1-9). 

They’re choosing to be “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,(1) ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). 

So let's honor God by honoring our moms (and dads)! 

✞✞✞

(1) This doesn’t mean adult children must obey the commands of their parents, but it offers an additional understanding of what it means to honor. Honor is more than mere respect, and it requires an attitude that mirrors obedience even when a person becomes an adult. See Respectfully Saying No to Authority.

When I write about the responsibility of children to honor their parents, people often write or leave comments about how awful their parents are and how they don't deserve honor. They don't actually describe situations involving abuse. Instead, they describe their parents as annoying or rude or non-affirming. If we think God only wants us to obey His commands when things are easy, we need to memorize Romans 12.

For more encouragement to honor your parents, see Weak Faith and Broken Families. To avoid estrangement teachings, see Blame Your Mom. 

BLN