Honor our Forebears – The Fifth Commandment

Honor our Forebears

The fifth commandment calls us to honor our forebears.

Read Exodus 20:12

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

There is an appalling level of ignorance, indifference, and even outright scorn for our Christian forebears among members of the Body of Christ today. Too many indulge a studied neglect of the history of God’s people, and have no interest in the lessons they might learn from those whose faithfulness has made their own faith possible. But surely the fifth commandment entails that we should honor our forebears in the faith. Our attitude should be that of the psalmist: “As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the holy ones, in whom is all my delight” (Ps. 16.3, my translation). The faithful of the Lord who have gone before us have much to teach us about serving Him and gaining the blessing of His promises. As we improve our practice of the fifth commandment, let us not forget to honor our parents in the faith from days gone by.

How do you practice this facet of what the fifth commandment requires? Do you suppose there might be some valuable lessons for you from the lives of the saints?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.