Life in the Spirit, D.M.Lloyd-Jones

Honor thy father and mother. That means respect, reverence. Children are not to give a mechanical and a grudging obedience... Children are to reverence and to respect their parents, they are to realize the position as it obtains between them, and they are to rejoyce in it... This is not only right, he says, this is also the first commandment with promise... God was anxious to impress this upon the minds of the children of Israel to such an extent that He added this promise to enforce it... If you want to go on living in this land of promise to which I am leading you, observe these commandments, this one in particular. If you want ot have a time of blessedness and happiness in the promised land, if you want to go on living there under my blessing, observe these commandments, especially this one... If we set ourselves to obeserve these commandments, and this one in particular, for the right reason, then God will look down with pleasure upon us, and will smile upon us and bless us. Thank God for such a promise!