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TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12

Read: Exodus 20:1-17
Listen: Exodus 20

TODAY’S MESSAGE

Paul tells Timothy kids owe their parents, and he’s talking about adult children. That’s one of the reasons Paul wants the family to be the first line of defense for needs (1 Timothy 5:4). Paul is helping Timothy put into practice one of the ten commandments: honor your father and mother. One way to honor is to repay. Repayment is an acknowledgment that someone provided food and shelter at the least. It may not have been a biological parent, but someone did. When those people are in need, Paul says to care for them. He doesn’t say only to do it if they had a perfect parent. Or if that parent gave them all the emotional support they need. Or if that parent only said positive things. It is doubtful Timothy was only to provide the instruction to adults who had perfect parents. It seems to be an instruction for everyone.

Some of us are in a space where the needs of our parents are becoming more evident every day. Others might long to still have their parents around to care for them. Some of us may have a broken relationship with our parents and aren’t sure what it looks like to even consider meeting their needs. As Paul suggests, one good place to start is acknowledging that we owe them. Someone cared for us, whether they did it perfectly or not. Honoring our parents may involve more than only taking care of them. It can look like caring for an uncle our parents have cared for. It might look like investing in a niece your mom has watched out for over the years. Looking at this creatively, we can find many ways to honor our parents.

IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY

Open your journal or note app. Write at the top, THANK YOU. Begin a list of the positive things your parent(s) did for you. Work to record at least ten things. This list may be easy for some but difficult for others. Consider sharing some things from your list with your parent(s) or, if they are no longer around, with a sibling or friend to share your gratitude.

2023 SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

Join us all of 2023 developing a different spiritual practice each month. SPIRITUAL PRACTICES are intentional regular activities to deepen our relationship with God and mold us to be more like Jesus.

August is PRAYER. Keep track of our spiritual practices at beyondtheweekend.org/spiritualpractices.

Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.