Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Ephesians 6:1-3

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Leviticus 19:3

Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

THIS COMMAND IS FOUNDATIONAL FOR A HEALTHY SOCIETY.

Exodus 20:1-17

1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

"A peaceful, happy society begins with honoring your father and mother. The crack that will ultimately break down your family and break down our society is when dishonor and disrespect are normalized in the home. 

Which is incredibly countercultural, because we live in a society where almost every modern television show depicts parents as ignorant and the children as the wiser, more competent ones. Authority is often mocked, fathers are portrayed as foolish or absent, and obedience is treated like something outdated or even harmful.

And when that’s the air we breathe, it subtly reshapes our instincts. We begin to question whether we should really expect respect, whether discipline is too harsh. But Scripture consistently presents a very different vision—one where parents are called to lead with wisdom and love, and children are called to respond with honor.

So to raise children who respect and obey their parents is not just good parenting—it’s a quiet act of resistance against a culture that has inverted God’s design."

- Rev. Jake Hooker

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

HONOR YOUR PARENTS BY BEING OBEDIENT.

Ephesians 6:1

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

HONOR YOUR PARENTS BY MAINTAINING RESPECT.

HONOR YOUR PARENTS BY CARING FOR THEM IN THEIR OLD AGE.

Mark 7:9-13

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

HONOR YOUR PARENTS BY FORGIVING.

"Showing honor does not mean you have to approve of or cover up sinful things that people have done. It may look like offering forgiveness when it hasn’t been earned, speaking truth in love without bitterness, or refusing to repay sin with sin. Honor, in those situations, is expressed not through blind submission, but through a posture of grace, restraint, and trust in God’s perfect justice."

-Rev. Jake Hooker