June 19
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth,’” Ephesians 6:1-3.
On the civil calendar, today is Father’s Day. The first Father’s Day was observed on June 19, 1910. Father’s Day was founded by a mother, Mrs. John Dodd, who lived in Spokane, Washington. She wanted to honor her own father and all fathers by setting aside one day of the year as a national day of tribute to fathers.
Her own father, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran and a widower. However, he reared six children, five sons and one daughter, according to what was considered “the old-fashioned, God-fearing way.” Mrs. Dodd said that he was “both father and mother to us for twenty-one years.” He had a real sense of duty and devotion to his family.
The Bible text quoted above calls upon children to have a sense of duty and devotion to both father and mother. The duty to obey and honor father and mother comes from God. Every child is given this duty by birth. Children give the honor due their father and mother when they recognize their parents as their providers and superiors, who are representatives of God.
Unfortunately, because of the breakdown of the family, many children do not even know who their father is. There are many single-parent families, which is not what God ever intended. Legislators, judges (including members of the Supreme Court), and also some clergymen have done little or nothing to remedy the situation. In fact, by redefining marriage as a union between two people of any sex or of the same sex, they have contributed to the moral mess in which we find society. Marriage is not a human institution. God instituted marriage. Marriage is a divine institution, the union of one man and one woman living as husband and wife. No one has the right to change that definition.
On this Father’s Day, thank God on bended knee if you still have or once had a God-fearing Christian father and a God-fearing Christian mother!
The apostle Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to record for us the Old Testament Commandment with its New Testament meaning. The Old Testament Commandment had a promise that was intended specifically for the people of Israel. It reads, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you,” Exodus 20:12. That referred specifically to the promised land of Canaan. The apostle wrote the New Testament meaning, expressed with the words, “’Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’” If children want the blessing of God, then they should honor and obey their parents.
The apostle was moved to write that this Commandment “is the first commandment with promise.” It is the first and only Commandment with this specific promise, “That it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” A blessing is promised already in this life.
When we think of the times we failed to honor and obey our father and mother, we remember that Jesus fulfilled this Commandment in our place, and He paid the price on Calvary’s cross for our forgiveness. He assures children that their sins are forgiven, and He invites all to believe that they are pardoned by the heavenly Father.
“Oh, blest the house, what-e’er befall,
Where Jesus Christ is all in all!
Yea, if He were not dwelling there,
How dark and poor and void it were!
Oh, blest that house where faith ye find,
And all within have set their mind
To trust their God and serve Him still,
And do in all His holy will!” Amen.