Children owe honor to their parents. Parents have the right to expect and demand honor and even to extend discipline to children who fail to give it, for God himself commands “Honor your father and your mother.” When children are young, this honor is shown especially in obedience—they are to submit to the authority of their parents, for in doing so they are submitting to God, the one from whom all authority flows. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1). This is God’s world and according to God’s ways, this kind of honor is due to parents.
When my children were young, I expected and even demanded their honor, especially as it took form in obedience. I would explain to them that it was not first me who was concerned for their honor, but God. If they were to honor God, they needed to honor both me and their mother. I would at times discipline them for failing to show honor, whether that failure took the form of outright disobedience, or a breath-huffing eye-rolling bad attitude, or a failure to “do it now, do it all the way, and do it with
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