You can never repay what your parents have given you—their time, money, tears, efforts, their very lives. What you can give them, young people, is your respect and obedience. What you can offer them is your understanding of their awesome responsibility. This is something that is “pleasing to the Lord” (Col. 3:20) and will make their jobs a whole lot easier. Not easy, just easier.

Believe it or not, your parents were your age once. Can you imagine Mark Ellis as a teenager? He was; all of them were. So, don’t ever say, “you don’t understand what I’m going through.” No matter how times have changed or how different the world was when they were young, they still faced the same challenges that you face. They had to flee fornication, they had to say no to drugs and drinking, they had to resist conforming to the crowd. How can they help you do the same if you won’t let them? Lean on their wisdom and learn to appreciate their advice.

Believe it or not, your parents want what’s best for you. Regardless of what it looks like, their sole mission in life is not to deprive you of every form of pleasure. They just don’t want you to get hurt. Bringing you up in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4) sometimes means correction, admonition, and saying, “no.” Remember, they’re trying to guide you in the direction that avoids eternal punishment. If keeping you in your room for the weekend will help keep your soul out of hell, they’re going to do it. So, trust them; they know what’s best.

Believe it or not, your parents love you. How many of your friends would have changed your dirty diapers, stayed up all night when you were sick, or given up their lives so that you could have one? Your father and mother have done all that and more for the simple reason that they love you. I didn’t fully understand the strength of parental love until I looked into the eyes of my own children. What a shame to wait that long! And don’t just assume that they know you love them, too. Tell them. Then, tell them again.

You don’t have a choice about being related to your parents. But you do have a choice about having a relationship with them. Decide to build one while you still have them with you. That way, you’ll have something to give their grandchildren. And in the process, you’ll become a better child of your Father who is in heaven.