Honor and Dignity

A man had to move his elderly father in to live with his family.  His father was very feeble and kind of sick and his hands shook.  When he ate, sometimes he knocked things over, so the wife told her husband to make a wooden bowl for him so he wouldn't break the good dishes.  After that, the man got tired of seeing his father spill food at the table, and he made his father take the wooden bowl and sit in the corner behind the stove to eat.  That still wasn't good enough.  They got tired of cleaning up food, so they made the old man eat out of the kind of grain bin that the animals used.

The couple had a little boy.  One day they saw him whittling, hollowing out a log.  The father asked what he was doing, and the little boy said, "I'm making a trough so it will be ready for you when you're old and come to live with me."

Yes, it is a story. Yet it contains much truth about how many people fail to take care of their parents.  When some people reach adulthood, they seem to forget that they were able to survive infancy and childhood through the sacrifice of their parents who fed, clothed, and housed them.

As we explore the Ten Rules for Right Living, let us remind ourselves of number 5: "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

This command isn't just for little children.  It is for children of all ages.

Come see us Sunday.  We will talk about that.
Pastor Jeff