The Sunday Mail
Pastor Tinashe Zinyemba – Christian Youth
I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to all those who are sending me feedback, thank you so much for the encouragement.
I will strive to continue to deliver the best material possible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Last week I spoke about relationships. Today I will continue down the same vein and focus on how we should relate with our parents.
Exodus 20vs12 says, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord they God giveth thee.”
The apostle states that this is the first commandment with a promise, further emphasising the importance of honouring our parents.
Now I know that this is a sensitive subject because in some unfortunate instances our relationships with our parents are tricky to say the least. Sometimes we do not relate with them well because of matters such as our choices on who to marry and the careers we chose, among other such major life decisions.
In other cases we feel let down by our parents in one way or the other. For instance in some unfortunate cases, some might have been abandoned by their parents while some parents can be abusive verbally, emotionally, physically and even sexually.
These are very difficult circumstances to handle. However, that is not the case in all parent-child relationships. Some are very healthy.
Having said this we must understand the meaning of the word parent. A parent is defined as a father or mother, one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian.
To parent is to rear, raise, bring up, nurture. This means that if you were adopted or taken care of by someone else, that individual is your parent. From a much broader perspective, anyone who has played a part in raising or sustaining you to date is your parental figure. This goes to the level of your teacher or lecturer at school, college or university.
Your boss at work, individuals who are in authority for example enforcers of the law, police, fire men, politicians, and so forth.
If you analyse Exodus 20 vs 12 it talks of long life being the benefit of honouring your parents. So as an example, if your honour your teacher at school then you will not be expelled but rather your stay at school will be prosperous.
The same can be said about the police, or even your boss at work, even more so when you respect the laws of Zimbabwe (as it is our mother country). A parent is a life source.
In Luke 2, Jesus stays behind after His parents had left to go back home and they are worried sick about him and have to travel all the way back to Jerusalem to get Him. His response when they find Him seems like He was a bit disobedient.
In John 2vs4, Jesus answers His mother by first saying “woman” which seems disrespectful. However when you understand the times and context He lived in you will realise just how respectful He was. Jesus was a carpenter, He was taught this trade by Joseph His father.
In those days the first born son would be taught the family trade in order to fend for the family in the event of the father passing away. Jesus knew Joseph was His adoptive father, yet He was an obedient son, he was never rebellious. Jesus used the trade He learnt from His father to provide for His siblings and mother after Joseph had died.
Paul encourages parents not to frustrate their children in Ephesians 6. However the onus is on us as children to honour them. In Genesis 9, Noah got drunk and embarrassed himself. However his two sons maintained their respect for their father while Ham got cursed for mocking him.
Tough as it might be, we have to honour and respect them. This does not mean that we obey blindly. Remember they don’t benefit from your downfall and sometimes they are speaking out of love and fear for your well-being to the best of their knowledge.
It is not possible to mention everything in this short article but I encourage you to honour, love and respect your parents (both biological and otherwise) despite what they may have done.
If there is a disagreement I advise you to respectfully disagree and if the matter seems to be escalating, find a respectable individual to be your mediator. Till next time, God bless.
The writer is a pastor with New Life Covenant Church. Email feedback on [email protected]
