OUR LORD WHOSE WISDOM ENRICHES OUR LIVES

Ephesians chapter 6 verses 2 - 4 reads this way;

“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

The apostle Paul, writing to the  believers at Ephesus, advised them to honor their parents so that it would go well with them and that they would enjoy long earthly lives.

As the apostle wrote, it is a commandment with a promise attached to it meaning that the following of the commandment necessarily yields the fruit of the promise associated with it.

Our mothers and fathers are the Lord's chosen vessels to bring us up in the world and the Lord's unequivacle command is to honor them.

The second part of the passage advises Fathers not to exasperate their children but instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 

This exhortation implies that failing to bring children up in ways of the Lord results in them being exasperated or frustrated. When children are brought up under  uneven or capricious standards or even no standards at all, they may suffer demoralization as Colossians chapter 3 verse 21 says,  "Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged".

The Lord, issuing wisdom through the pen of His servant Paul, advises us to uphold the single standard of the ways of the Lord when raising our children.

As the book of Proverbs in chapter 22 verse 6 says, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."

This verse is the mirror promise to parents that careful and faithful parenting in the ways of the Lord will yield the fruit of righteousness in the lives of their children for many years to come.

Let us bless the Lord who freely gives us wisdom for the enrichment of our lives.

Amen.