Suggested Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
A recurring theme in science fiction is the quest to live forever. Whether it is a woman from Doctor Who whose extreme surgeries have left her as nothing more than a thin film of skin that has to be constantly hydrated, a old-woman from Smallville who sucks the life-force out of teenage boys in order to live as a teenage girl, or alien life-forms from the original Star Trek who build artificial bodies to house their minds, people are always imagining ways that they can live longer. Even now Google is looking for ways to overcome death.
A recurring theme in science fiction is the quest to live forever. Whether it is a woman from Doctor Who whose extreme surgeries have left her as nothing more than a thin film of skin that has to be constantly hydrated, a old-woman from Smallville who sucks the life-force out of teenage boys in order to live as a teenage girl, or alien life-forms from the original Star Trek who build artificial bodies to house their minds, people are always imagining ways that they can live longer. Even now Google is looking for ways to overcome death.
Sadly, even many Christians forget about a method that is backed by a divine guarantee. Exodus 20:12 reads, "Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you" (HCSB).
Especially while we are growing up, but even once we reach adulthood, our parents have a wealth of knowledge that we can tap into if we remember to do so. Our parents give us instruction, warnings, and words of wisdom that they have often learned from cold, hard experience and wish to save us from learning the hard way as well. When we honor them, when we listen and ponder the advice and instruction they give us, we often save ourselves a lot of trouble that we would have encountered had we just done what our inexperience told us was best.
I know that not all parents are good and some have even been horrible. But that doesn't mean we cannot learn from their experience. It is entirely possible to watch the lives of one's parents, see their mistakes and their failures and learn from those, even if they have never shared those things directly with us. Even learning from our parents' mistakes can be a form of honoring our parents as we ponder their lives and attempt to learn from them.
Whatever form it takes, whether they deserve it or not, God has promised us that honoring our parents will lead to longer lives. We probably won't learn the secrets to eternal youth or indestructibility, but the longer life we lead will certainly be a wiser one.
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