Are You Teaching Respect?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” Genesis 2:24 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I have a friend with a wonderful Christian wife and two fine, godly sons, but one time one of the boys was really rude to his mother. The dad took the son aside and said, “Son, I want to tell you something. When you talked like that to your mother, you sinned against God because God says you’re to honor your mother, so you’re going to have to answer to God for that. And you sinned against your mother. She went down into the valley of the shadow of death to bring you life. That’s so ungrateful for you to speak to your mother like that, and you’re going to have to answer to her. But not only is she your mother—she’s my wife, and you’re not going to talk that way to my wife. So now you’ve not only got God to deal with, and her to deal with, you’ve got me to deal with, because you disrespected my wife.”

What a lesson for a kid! I think it’s one of the greatest I’ve ever heard, to see a husband come to the protection of his wife, even if he has to take sides with her against his own child.

ACTION POINT

This is the kind of teaching and training you should be giving your children. If you are a father, show them that a husband will protect his wife like this. It will be one of the greatest lessons you can give them.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers