Filial Piety
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - EXODUS 20 : 1-17
And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The time when the TEN COMMANDMENTS were give by the Almighty Lord Himself to the present time, thousands of years have passed. I think "thousands of years" is too little. But I am sure you get my point. Amazingly, all the ten laws are still applicable until today. The big question is, how many of us keep EVERY single commandments in our daily lives?
Those are the very basic commandments for all (be it Christians and non-Christians) to follow. For Christians, there are many other "rules" to follow, such as no anger, no pridefulness, must live a life led by the Spirit, etc. If we, Christians, can't even keep the basic ten commandments, how are we going to be a living testimony for our Lord?
The most common problem that I see nowadays with my generation is filial piety. Unfortunately, the Christians are not much different from the non-believers. There are many bad parents, and naturally, we, the children find it "natural" to be bad towards them. We feel that our parents do not deserve our kindness, let alone forgive them and takes care of them. I am in no place to say the following, but I would like to encourage everyone to firstly forgive your parents who have abandoned and hurt you while you were young, or recently. To bring yourself to forgive your parents who have hurt you beyond what anyone can bear, is impossible for us humans. So, PRAY, and ask God to empower you, to give you a renewed heart and spirit who is able to forgive even the worst parents.
There are two types of parents which lead to different actions required from us. One is, parents have turned good. If your parents realised their mistakes, quickly forgive them and reconcile. Who are you to withhold forgiveness while you were freely forgiven by our Lord? Take the opportunity to reach out to your parents. Bring them to Church. I guarantee you, God will see and reward your willingness to forgive and your effort to humble yourself.
The other type of parents is, parents who are still "bad" or maybe gone to worst. Firstly, forgiving them is a must, there is no shortcut, no two-way about it. Pray to God to give you even stronger conviction in your heart to forgive. It might not be possible to r econcile, especially if you have aggressive parents. What you can do, is to continually pray. Fasting for your parents will be even better. Pray that the Lord will send someone, anyone to minister to them. Pray with your sincerest heart that God will have mercy on them and will not let them leave this world without knowing and accepting Jesus.
My personal wish is to go to Heaven with all my families and friends.
Let's Pray
Dear Lord, I thank you for freely forgiving me while I am still a sinner, and I still am a sinner as I am holding a painful grudge against my parents. Empower me Lord to be able to forgive. I am willing to let them go out of my heart, I will no longer hold them hostage in my heart. I want to lay my anger and my pride on Your feet and let go. Set me free, O Lord from this bondage of sin. I no longer want to be ruled by the spirit of this world. I want to follow You and I want to grow spiritually, that one day You can use me to do Your mighty works. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!
And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The time when the TEN COMMANDMENTS were give by the Almighty Lord Himself to the present time, thousands of years have passed. I think "thousands of years" is too little. But I am sure you get my point. Amazingly, all the ten laws are still applicable until today. The big question is, how many of us keep EVERY single commandments in our daily lives?
Those are the very basic commandments for all (be it Christians and non-Christians) to follow. For Christians, there are many other "rules" to follow, such as no anger, no pridefulness, must live a life led by the Spirit, etc. If we, Christians, can't even keep the basic ten commandments, how are we going to be a living testimony for our Lord?
The most common problem that I see nowadays with my generation is filial piety. Unfortunately, the Christians are not much different from the non-believers. There are many bad parents, and naturally, we, the children find it "natural" to be bad towards them. We feel that our parents do not deserve our kindness, let alone forgive them and takes care of them. I am in no place to say the following, but I would like to encourage everyone to firstly forgive your parents who have abandoned and hurt you while you were young, or recently. To bring yourself to forgive your parents who have hurt you beyond what anyone can bear, is impossible for us humans. So, PRAY, and ask God to empower you, to give you a renewed heart and spirit who is able to forgive even the worst parents.
There are two types of parents which lead to different actions required from us. One is, parents have turned good. If your parents realised their mistakes, quickly forgive them and reconcile. Who are you to withhold forgiveness while you were freely forgiven by our Lord? Take the opportunity to reach out to your parents. Bring them to Church. I guarantee you, God will see and reward your willingness to forgive and your effort to humble yourself.
The other type of parents is, parents who are still "bad" or maybe gone to worst. Firstly, forgiving them is a must, there is no shortcut, no two-way about it. Pray to God to give you even stronger conviction in your heart to forgive. It might not be possible to r econcile, especially if you have aggressive parents. What you can do, is to continually pray. Fasting for your parents will be even better. Pray that the Lord will send someone, anyone to minister to them. Pray with your sincerest heart that God will have mercy on them and will not let them leave this world without knowing and accepting Jesus.
My personal wish is to go to Heaven with all my families and friends.
Let's Pray
Dear Lord, I thank you for freely forgiving me while I am still a sinner, and I still am a sinner as I am holding a painful grudge against my parents. Empower me Lord to be able to forgive. I am willing to let them go out of my heart, I will no longer hold them hostage in my heart. I want to lay my anger and my pride on Your feet and let go. Set me free, O Lord from this bondage of sin. I no longer want to be ruled by the spirit of this world. I want to follow You and I want to grow spiritually, that one day You can use me to do Your mighty works. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!
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