it's not about me

I was reminded last night -again - of an important tenet to remember when discovering and uncovering God's word.

during our Wednesday night Bible study, we talked about the 5th commandment. We all turned to Deuteronomy 5:16 and read the text...

then we had a discussion about what it means to 'honor' your dad and mom.... pretty meaningful sharing and testimony, and rather lively study about how it relates to us.

The thing I was reminded of is that this passage - like every other passage - is not about us. It is about God.

in this instance, the language is of covenant relationship with the Creator. The "so that it may be well with you and that you may live long in the land which God prepared for you" phrase is used a dozen or so times in the several chapters surrounding the Deuteronomy text...

so whether He is referring to "keeping His decrees" (Deut 4:40) or "fearing Him and keeping His commands" (Deut 5:29) or "being careful to obey" (Deut 6:3) or "honoring father and mother" (5:16), the central character is God and the central theme is 'honoring' and 'obeying' and 'fearing' and 'revering' HIM! it's about maintaining that Covenant Relationship with THE FATHER.

so the foundational key to honoring mom and dad is to honor God. We cannot honor our father unless we first honor Father.

Sometimes we fail (I fail) to see God in scripture because I am (we are) studying it from our own perspective.... and with me as the story's focus, the story loses its meaning, it loses its 'aliveness'.

and that inevitably robs us of the clear and simple meaning of the story.

The Bible Story is God's story. Reading the Bible without recognizing THAT is akin to reading "the grapes of wrath" and forgetting that it's Tom Joad's story.

When we remember that the Bible must be seen from God's perspective as His story, only then will we truly begin to 'get it'.

and for most of my life, I have begun my study through the lens of 'what does this mean for me?' and I have missed it, for the most part...

back to the 5th commandment...

we can talk about respecting our parents and helping them and taking care of them when they're old and not talking back to them when we're young. and those are all be admirable ways to 'treat' our parents, to be sure.

but all that misses the point of the commandment...

because, as we discussed last night, that 'treatment' (seen through human eyes) is about us and our relationship with our earthly parents... so what happens when our parents are neglectful, abusive, disturbed, horrible parents? Well, there is no way on earth we can honor parental monsters with the same 'honor' that others 'honor' their more loving and nurturing parents.

Because that sort of 'honor' depends upon us.

Bottom line: the only way any of this works is if we stop thinking of this (or any) commandment as being 'about us'.

the thread that ties this all together, so that everyone may adhere to this - and any - commandment is God. the One about whom the story is written!

you wanna honor your parents?

Honor God. seek covenant relationship with Him.

...no matter what you mom or dad may think about that.... and no matter what kind of parents they are/were, THAT is the answer to obeying the 5th commandment.

remember, it's not about me.

Blessings