23/07/2026
MORNING DEVOTION
"So That It May Go Well with You"
Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2–3
Yesterday, during one of our class presentations on Luther's Large Catechism, my attention was drawn afresh to the Fourth Commandment:
"Honor your father and your mother, so that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)
St. Paul repeats these very words in Ephesians 6:2–3, reminding us that this is the first commandment with a promise.
Many of us first learned this commandment in Sunday School and catechism classes. We also grew up in societies where parents were deeply respected as God's appointed authority within the family. Yet today, technological advancement, materialism, and an increasingly secular culture have dulled our consciences. We are connected to the whole world, yet disconnected from those who first loved us. God's clear command is now negotiated, excused, or conveniently ignored.
Luther teaches that after God Himself, parents deserve the highest honor because God chooses to care for us through them. To despise father or mother is not merely to wound them, it is to despise the God who established His order for the family.
This commandment reaches every one of us. It speaks to the pastor and the banker, the teacher and the student, the farmer and the physician, the politician and the mechanic. No profession, no title, and no success exempts anyone from honoring father and mother.
To honor our parents is far more than speaking respectfully. It is to care for them, provide for them, visit them, defend their dignity, and love them especially when age has made them weak and dependent. The hands that once carried us may now tremble. The eyes that watched over us may now grow dim. The voices that prayed for us may now speak with difficulty. Yet God's command has never grown old.
How heartbreaking that many elderly parents now spend their final years abandoned, lonely, and forgotten while the children they sacrificed for pursue comfort without gratitude. Some wait endlessly for a visit that never comes. Others suffer silently while their children have every earthly convenience. Such neglect is not merely unfortunate.
It is sin.
Our Lord Jesus Christ condemned those who used religion as an excuse to avoid caring for their parents (Mark 7:9–13). Outward piety can never replace simple obedience. A faith that sings loudly in church but neglects father and mother at home contradicts the very Word it professes to believe.
The Fourth Commandment carries both a promise and a warning. God delights to bless those who honor His holy order, but persistent disregard for His command invites His discipline. We should not presume upon God's grace while willfully neglecting those whom He entrusted to our care.
Yet here the Gospel speaks.
Which of us can honestly say we have perfectly honored our parents; in thought, word, and deed? We have all failed. We have all fallen short. But Christ has not. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Law we have broken. Upon the cross He even entrusted His own mother to the care of His beloved disciple, demonstrating perfect love to the very end. Through His death and resurrection, He forgives our failures and gives us new hearts to begin again.
Therefore, if your parents are still living, do not postpone love. Call them. Visit them. Care for them. Seek forgiveness where you have failed, and freely forgive where wounds remain. Tomorrow is God's gift, not our guarantee.
May our obedience never be driven merely by the promise of long life, but by gratitude to Christ, who has given us eternal life.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us where we have neglected those through whom You gave us life. Renew our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, that we may gladly honor our father and mother, not merely with our lips but with lives of faithful love and service. May our families reflect Your mercy, and may our obedience bear witness to the Gospel, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
゚viralシ luther
