Young man, if your parents are still living treat them kindly. Do all
you can to make their declining years sweet and happy. Bear in mind
that this is the only commandment that you may not always be able to
obey. As long as you live, you will be able to serve God, to keep the
sabbath, to obey all the other commandments, but the day comes to most
men when father and mother die. What bitter feelings you will have
when the opportunity has gone by, if you fail to show them the respect
and love that is their due! How long is it since you wrote to your
mother? Perhaps you have not written home for months, or it may be for
years. How often I get letters from mothers urging me to try and
influence their sons!
Which would you rather be--a Joseph or an Absalom? Joseph wasn't
satisfied until he had brought his old father down into Egypt. He was
the greatest man in Egypt, next to Pharaoh; he was arrayed in the
finest garments; he had Pharaoh's ring on his hand, and a gold chain
about his neck, and they cried before him, "Bow the knee." Yet when he
heard Jacob was coming, he hurried out to meet him. He wasn't ashamed
of the old man, with his shepherds clothes. What a contrast we see in
Absalom. That young man broke his father's heart by his rebellion, and
the Jews are said to throw a stone at Absalom's pillar to the present
day, whenever they pass it, as a token of their horror of Absalom's
unnatural conduct.
Come, now, are you ready to be weighed? If you have been dishonoring
your father and mother, step into the scales and see how quickly you
will be found wanting. See how quickly you will strike the beam. I
don't know any man who is much lighter than one who treats his parents
with contempt. Do you disobey them just as much as you dare? Do you
try to deceive them? Do you call them old-fashioned, and sneer at
their advice? How do you treat that venerable father and praying
mother?
You may be a professing Christian, but I wouldn't give much for your
religion unless it gets into your life and teaches you how to live. I
wouldn't give a snap of my finger for a religion that doesn't begin at
home and regulate your conduct toward your parents.