“Honorology” III
“…Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say,‘Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,’ and when you say, ‘I’m bored—this doesn’t do anything for me.’ You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it’s a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I’m going to accept it? This is God speaking to you!” Malachi 1:12-14 (MSG)
Let me set the record straight. God doesn’t need your honour. Yes, you’ve heard me right.
He doesn’t need an ego-boost, neither does He need to know He’s God and He’s great. But it is His desire that we do, and when we do, that’s when we get to reciprocate that thought by honouring Him. When we know that God is our God, and begin to honour Him, then we begin to understand this:
The level of value you receive is determined by the amount honor you give
In Malachi, we see a God who is frustrated with how His people were worshipping Him. By their acts of offering broken useless hand-me-downs, it says a lot about their heart condition. They were a people who have forgotten how great and powerful their God is. They were an ungrateful bunch. Simply said, who God was to them, can be observed by what they offered up to Him.
And in that context itself, these people failed to see and receive the blessings that God wanted so much to release to them.
Where there is limited or no honour, there can be only be limited or no blessing. In our daily lives with God, where there is little honour given to God, we will fail to see the blessing He is wanted to give us.
I’m not trying to say that we need to honour God in order for Him to pour out His blessings. I’m saying that His blessings are already there and given to us, but if we come with a heart that has no honour for Him, we would not be able to even glimpse of that blessing because we are too caught up with ourselves.
Whenever you miss an opportunity to give honour to someone let alone God, not only have you denied the person of due honour, you also miss out on something of great value.
i.e. when you fail to greet someone close to your heart on their birthday, you have missed out on honouring them on their special day, AND you miss out on building that relationship.
The tragedy is not only does it hurt someone else whose honor is due, it hurts you.
A classic example from the Bible is found in Matthew 13:54-58 where Jesus returned to His country. You might think that the people who grew up with Him would welcome Him and honour Him, but instead they were offended by His teaching and wisdom. They could not comprehend how who Jesus was, and when they lack that comprehension, they turned away in unblief and in Jesus’ words, He said “A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house.” And because of that, He didn’t do many miracles. Not because He couldn’t nor that He didn’t want to, but that there was unbelief.
Where there is unbelief, there is no honour, and where there is no honour, there is limited blessings/ miracles.
Ever wondered why you come to church on Saturdays or Sundays and you leave the same again? Ever wondered why you are not experiencing God in your everyday life? Maybe, it’s because we are not placing enough value and weight on the whole experience with God.
Maybe we are not showing up in church or treating our leaders or others with the right attitude. We are not valuing them enough to give honour and in turn, we suffer because we fail to receive the blessing and experience God wants to have with us.
When you come to church with an attitude that says “bless me if you can” or with a complaining spirit or an indifferent attitude, you would say - “I didn’t get much out of it today” Well, you didn’t put much into it in the first place?
How much value you put into something determines the honour you give. You’ve gotta put some effort in your experience with God. When you are able to receive the Word and have gained an experience from God, it wasn’t just because the preacher was good. It’s because you positioned yourself for the experience. You came expectant. Your eyes were fixed on the major.
I’m going to end my “Honorology” blog series tomorrow. Just wanted to leave the above thought with you today.
