“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
— Ephesians 6:1
The Apostle Paul does not say obey your parents because they are always right. He says obey your parents because this is right. The distinction is important. Your parents will make mistakes. They will give you advice that does not always pan out. They will be imperfect in the ways that all human beings are imperfect. But the structure God has established, children under the authority of their parents, is right. It is right whether or not the parents are always right. And submitting to a right structure, even when the individual in authority is imperfect, is an act of faith in the God who established that structure.
Mark Twain captured what every parent knows and every teenager will eventually discover: “When I was fourteen years of age, I was amazed at how stupid my father was. But when I was twenty-one, I was astounded at how much the old man had learned in just seven short years.” The wisdom of your parents becomes visible only in the rearview mirror, which is exactly why God asks you to submit to it before you can see it clearly. That is faith. That is trust. That is the kind of character that a life of genuine obedience builds.
For younger people listening today: if you are living under your parents’ roof, eating at their table, depending on their provision, you owe them your cooperation. Not grudgingly, not with an attitude, not with compliance on the outside and defiance on the inside. The Scripture says obedience that honors is an obedience of the heart, not just the behavior. A child can sit down on the outside while standing up on the inside, and God sees both.
And for older people who read this as though it no longer applies: the commandment does not expire when you leave home. The form changes. You are no longer under their authority in the same way. But the honor, the respect, the gratitude, the care for them in their aging years: none of that ever goes away. Jesus, dying on the cross under the weight of the sins of the world, took time to make provision for His mother. He looked at John and said: behold your mother. Take care of her. That is the model.
Honor your parents. It is right. And God keeps His promises.
OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS IS NOT OPTIONAL. IT IS THE TRAINING GROUND FOR ALL OTHER AUTHORITY.
