Dear ones in Christ,
Today the main duty of every believer is to honour God. God told, I will honour them that honour me. In Malachi 1:6, God asks the priests and the people of Israel who despised Him, “I then I be a father, where is mine honour? Even though the children of God worship the father, they despise Him. Even though they do not worship the idols, they despise God. The same thing happened even in the days of Prophet Malachi. The fear of God is very much needed if the society in which we live has to run correctly. The people of the world will be judged according to their knowledge of the light and justice they have. If the believers do not live according to the Word of God, the punishment will be huge.
Let us see about, how we should honour the Father?
What is the meaning of Honoring God? In Psalms 15:4, we read, “He honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” We should give the first place to God.
1. Honouring them that fear God is a sign:
When we honour the people who fear God, we fear God. This means we give reverence to God. Honoring the Saints means, being in fellowship with them, not having relation with the ungodly, not speaking openly to them, not getting into relationship, not eating with them and getting attached, but living in fellowship with the saints. In Genesis 14:20 we read, Melchizedek king of Salem blessed Abraham saying, “And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine into thy hands. And he gave him tithes of all.” Abraham had fellowship with the High Priest Melchizedek. But Lot left the Holy man of God Abraham and went to Sodom, the world filled with lusts. Serve the Saints be blessed. Even though the Saints don’t have money, wealth, or any status, we should honour them.
2. He that has mercy on the poor, honours God
In Proverbs 14:31 we read, “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.”
In Proverbs 19:17 we read, “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” In 2 Corinthians 8:2 we read, “How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” Keep yourself right before God every day. Spend your portion to the poor correctly. Be faithful in your part before God.
3. Honour your parents:
In Exodus 20:12 we read, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
In Mark 7:11 we read, “But ye say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightiest be profited by me.” This is a sin in the sight of God.
God doesn’t want the offering of the one who do not honour his father or mother. In Proverbs 30:11 we read, “There is a generation that curseth their father, and does not bless their mother.”
(Proverbs 23:22, Proverbs 20:20, Proverbs 1:8)
Proverbs 23:22, “Hearken unto thy father that begat you, and despise not thy mother when she is old.”
Proverbs 20:20, “Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.”
Proverbs 1:8, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.”
4. Honour the Lord’s day:
In Isaiah 58:13, 14, God says “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy ay; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shall thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth…”. If we want to be transformed in to the Spirit in the Lord’s day, then we should celebrate it as the day of delight.
5. Honour the Lord with your substance, honour Him with your tithe:
Proverbs 3:9, Malachi 3:8, Matthew 23:23
Proverbs 3:9, “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.”
Malachi 3:8, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.”
Matthew 23:23, “… and ye have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Even if we give our tithes and offerings, we should have judgment and mercy.
6. Honour God’s Word:
God looks at the man who fear His word, respect God’s Word and give place for the Word to work in your life. 1 Samuel 15:22, “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” Saul was rejected. His life ended in a defeat and failure. He was a great king. But the Kingdom was given to David who was more righteous than him. In Genesis 12:1, God said to Abraham, “Go to the land that I show you”. And he obeyed just as God said and inherited the blessings. In Genesis 18:19, we read, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” Adam disobeyed God, and he was driven out.
7. We should obey the higher authorities:
In Romans 13:1, Apostle Paul says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” In the family the wife should obey her husband. Do not stand against the officials.
My dear friends! God wants us to honour Him. We should honour the Saints who fear God. We should show mercy upon the poor and honour God, we should honour God by honoring our parents. We should honour God by keeping the Lord’s Day holy. We should honour God by our substances and the tithes of our increase. We should honour God by obeying His Word. And we should honour God by obeying the higher authorities and the wives by obeying their husbands. When we honour God in our lives like this, God will be glorified in us. He who said, “I will honour him that honors me”, will honour us and exalt us. Amen!
