Dear Friends,

I have always assumed that I would live a long life and apart from one relative who died accidentally, all of our family have lived into their late 80's or 90's. My Great Grandmother is even 100, she had her birthday last November. However is long life really about genes and good health or is there more to it than that.

The Bible says in Dueteronomy 5:16 to "Honour your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you." So as far as God is concerned, the way we treat our parents brings a blessing (and maybe a curse). However there is more.......its not only a long life that we can be blessed with because the verse also says that if we honour our parents that it will "go well with you." In other words we will be a success.

In the Bible there was a man called Jacob who treated his father very disrespectfully by lying to him and cheating on his brother. Late in Jacob's life he is quoted as saying in Genesis 47:9 that "my years have been few and difficult." I guess its not surprising considering the attitude he had towards his Dad and brother.

The burning issue however is what to do about parents that treated you poorly or don't deserve to be honoured. Its obvious that not every parent has done a great job. The Bible expects us to honour them not matter what kind of person they are.....and you can once you know what the Bible means when it speaks of honour. According to the Ancient Hebrew language (which the Old Testament was written in) honour means to "add weight to" or "to value." So this means that honour is not something can is earned but something that is given as a gift. If you have parents that were unworthy or disrespectful to you they don't have to earn honour, but you can give them value and give them worth as a gift. Its similar to love which is also to be given even to our enemies.

So I encourage you to overlook your parents faults and remember the things they did well. Make a big deal of what they did right and ignore what they did wrong. When you speak of them, speak well of them and you will be "adding weight to them." In short you will be honouring them. In addition treat them well, help them when you can and serve them........these are all aspects of honour. As you do these things you will find that things DO go well for you and you WILL live a long life, just as the Bible promises.

Bless you stacks
Cheers
David