Why Honor Their Authority

Honor their authority because we will end up obedient and godly. God will be very pleased. 

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. COLOSSIANS 3

Because living by rules is good for us and everyone around us. It will spare us of going through life by trial and error, which is a costlier, longer and achier route to perfection.

²⁹ If you appreciate wisdom when you hear it, you will become wise yourself, and your words will be a source of wisdom for others. SIRACH 18

¹⁷ Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, ¹⁸ for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. PROVERBS 22

Because everything will go well for us. Long life and multitudes of blessings will visit us. 

⁸ Respect your father in deed as well as word, so that blessing may come on you from him, ⁹ since a father’s blessing makes the houses of his children firm, while a mother’s curse tears up their foundations. ECCLESIASTICUS 3

⁷ Gain the love of the community, bow your head to a man of authority. ECCLESIASTICUS 4

²⁰ Whoever gives heed to instructions prospers, and blessed is He who trusts in the Lord. PROVERBS 16

¹ My son, do not forget My teaching, but keep My commands in your heart, ² for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. ³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. PROVERBS 3

²⁰ Follow the steps of the godly instead, and stay on the right path, ²¹ for only good men enjoy life to the full; ²² evil men lose the good things they might have had, and they themselves shall be destroyed. PROVERBS 2 tlb

Because our spiritual journey called life is a continuing apprenticeship on wisdom and our parents have the burden of inculcating wisdom in us. Wisdom is the sound judgment of putting into action our accumulated knowledge on righteousness.

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. ²¹ Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. ²² When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. ²³ For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light. PROVERBS 6

¹² Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. PROVERBS 23

²⁰ Listen to advice and accept instruction and in the end you will be wise… ²⁷ Stop listening to instruction, My son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. PROVERBS 19

²³ Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. PROVERBS 23

³ By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; ⁴ through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. PROVERBS 24

Wisdom says:

^1-2 Every young man who listens to Me and obeys My instructions will be given wisdom and good sense. ^3-5 Yes, if you want better insight and discernment, and are searching for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure, then wisdom will be given you, and knowledge of God Himself; you will soon learn the importance of reverence for the Lord and of trusting Him. ⁶ For the Lord grants wisdom! His every Word is a treasure of knowledge and understanding. ^7-8 He grants good sense to the godly—His saints. He is their shield, protecting them and guarding their pathway, ⁹ He shows how to distinguish right from wrong, how to find the right decision every time. ¹⁰ For wisdom and truth will enter the very center of your being, filling your life with joy. ^11-13 You will be given the sense to stay away from evil men who want you to be their partners in crime—men who turn from God’s ways to walk down dark and evil paths, ¹⁴ and exult in doing wrong. PROVERBS 2 tlb

¹⁶ [Wisdom] will save you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words, ¹⁷ who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. ¹⁸ For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. ¹⁹ None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. PROVERBS 2

Our parents are God’s stewards. Theirs is the burden of keeping us alive, providing for our basic needs, and looking after our personal safety. More importantly, theirs is the burden of teaching us the Gospel of Truth, about righteousness, what our proper life direction is, so that we may discover our vocation as children of God, learn to pray, and subordinate “material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.” Theirs is the burden of teaching us how to love and be loved… of molding godly character in us… of instructing us on communal responsibilities… of counseling us on how to avoid the compromising and decadent influences which threaten the human society… of setting personal examples and leading us in self-denial, sound judgment and self-mastery—all these are “the preconditions of true freedom.”

We honor the authority of our parents to show our appreciation of what they are doing for us, to express our love for them.

We honor their authority because if we make parenting to them a joy, not a burden, then Divine Justice would repay us kindly: Our children would make parenting for us a joy, not a burden. 

⁷ Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you reap. GALATIANS 6 nlt

¹⁷ Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. HEBREWS 13