Maybe you’ve seen theses commercials on TV.  A man and woman are sitting at Sonic.  The man says something stupid and the woman roles her eyes.  What about the wife that slaps her husband on the forehead and claims, “You could have had a V8.”?  Or, the cell phone commercial that has two children explaining to their parents how to operate their phones.  As the parents drive away and leave their children behind the kids turn to each other and exclaim how proud they are of their inept parents.  Can you see the dishonor in these commercials?  What about the average sitcom?  Are there any that doesn’t portray the husband as an idiot?  Can you turn on the TV without seeing children treating their parents disrespectfully?  We have gotten to the point in our home that we cringe when the average cartoon is turned on  –  the parents are portrayed  as idiots and the children are portrayed  as superior.  Is this something I want my children to accept as the norm?  Many would say that, “it’s just a cartoon or a funny commercial, what’s the big deal?:”  We could desensitize ourselves to what we watch to the point of it not being a big deal or  we could dive into the Word of  God and draw our  conclusions from it.  Look at how far we’ve come in our culture.  The feminist movement has enlightened us so much that Christian women don’t even flinch when a man or husband is treated rudely and boorishly.   However, this is contrary to God’s Word that says “A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.” (Pro 12:4)  I don’t want to live by the world’s standards; I’ll take God’s!  God’s standards say that the heart of my husband should safely trust in me.  Think about the analogy given from Ephesians about the husband and wife and Christ and the Church.  If the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church then the wife is to treat her husband with the same honor that the church treats Christ.  In other words, Christ is to the husband as the church is to the wife.  Women, when we see the putrid attitude towards men that the world gives, we should be ashamed and offended.  Just as if we saw a church treating Christ with dishonor.  Would we laugh at that?  I don’t think so.

What about the attitude we get from the world in regards to children and parents.  A person who is even a little familiar with the Word of God knows what God’s view is.  The first Bible verses we taught our children were Ephesians 6:1-3.   “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” (Eph 6:1-3)  I don’t teach my children to honor and obey me because I want honor or even obedience.  I teach my children to do this because in doing it they honor and obey God.  Their obedience to me is obedience to God.  And, their disobedience to me is direct disobedience to God.  Do you see why I wish to guard my children from the rubbish on TV?  When we accept these things we say to our children that the Word of God is just for church.  It can’t possible be applied to our daily lives.  You see, that’s called hypocrisy.  So, when we do see something like the commercial with the children speaking to their parents like they are morons then we should use it as a teaching opportunity to our own children.  We should show them what the Word of God says and we should live our lives according to it.  We should teach our children to honor and respect their elders.  Consider what  Leviticus 19:32 says, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.”   Do we do this because they deserve honor?  Some do but not all so we honor our elders because we fear God.  We should teach our children the same.  When my husband comes home and wants to sit down in his favorite spot I have taught my sons to get up and in honor give him his seat.  I have taught my daughter to rise and offer to fix her father a glass of ice tea.  The same principle applies to their grandparents when we visit.  We show honor and respect for this is pleasing to God.

As Christian mothers, we have two options when it comes to teaching our children.  We can take the time and effort and teach them God’s view via the Holy Bible or we can do nothing and let the world teach our children.  The world wants to mold and shape your child.  Will you let it?