Honoring God
Many people probably do not realize that everyday they honor something
or someone. Honor is to place high value or high importance on someone
or something. It is an attitude, or a response of the heart toward
someone who is deeply treasured. When we honor someone we are saying
that they carry great weight with us. In our eyes they are extremely
valuable.
One Greek word for honor is time. It occurs many times in God’s Word and
it means: weight; a holding worth; to deem or hold worthy; an
estimate of the value or price of a thing.
Romans 12:10: Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly
love; in honor preferring one another.
God wants us to see each other as extremely valuable, to place honor,
or high importance on one another. When we got born again, God gave us
a new nature. This new nature carries value. Romans is instructing us
to hold one another in high regard. To honor someone is a decision. We
decide by our own freewill that someone is highly valuable, and then
we treat him or her as such. Honor isn’t always something that is
earned. It is sometimes given as an act of grace to someone who
doesn’t deserve it, as evident in the following scripture.
Ephesians 2:1-5: And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
It is clear that God has placed great value on us by making us alive
together with Christ. God saw us as valuable even when we didn’t
deserve it. Even when we walked according to the course of this world,
and even when we fulfilled the lusts of the flesh, and even when we
were by nature the children of wrath, by God’s grace He saved us. We
did absolutely nothing to deserve this.
Ephesians 2:8-10: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man
should boast.
For we are his workmanship [masterpiece], created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Look at how valuable and important we are to God! He calls us His
masterpiece. When we read this section of God’s Word we might think of
a beautiful work of art in a museum. Some of man’s masterpieces have
armed guards and very sophisticated alarm systems surrounding them.
Man goes to great lengths to make sure that no harm comes to his
prized possessions because of the value that he has placed on it. We
are more important to God than any work of art is to man.
I Corinthians 6:19 and 20: What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye
are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God’s.
God tells us that we were bought with a price. The price that God paid
was the life of His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. We cost God
dearly and that makes us tremendously valuable to God. We were bought
with the highest price, while we were so unworthy and undeserving, and
yet we are His masterpiece.
God certainly put us in a position of honor by making us His
masterpiece; which leads us to this question: What about honoring God?
He certainly is deserving of it. Honoring God in the Old Testament was
done by doing His Word.
Isaiah 58:13-14: If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from
doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the
holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thy own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to
ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed with the heritage of
Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Simply put, we honor God by obeying Him and carrying out His Word.
When we honor one another, then we honor God. So as we obey God’s Word
and do it, we honor Him Who has so richly blessed us. The scriptures
make clear that God has placed great value on us, and that He tells us
to place value on one another. There is an abundance of ways to honor
God, so let’s endeavor to do our best to make sure that God gets the
honor that He deserves.
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