Let’s Honor Him

“Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.” 1 Samuel 2:30

            I have always loved this verse. Well, at least the first half of it. But it’s really two sides of the same coin. Let’s take a look first at the “good” side, the side that makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. The side that talks about me getting honored. If we’re honest with ourselves, isn’t that what we really desire? You may be the type of person who doesn’t like to have attention on you, but you still like to be honored. It’s human nature. So we like the part of the verse that says we will be honored. And not just by humans, but by God Himself! But what’s the first part? We need to honor God first. And wanting honor for ourselves is not honoring to God. Seems like a real catch-22, doesn’t it? We can’t honor God if we want the honor, and if we don’t want the honor, that’s when God honors us. Really, though, God is just getting our minds in the right place. If our desire is only to please God, if we see Him for Who He really is and recognize that He’s the only one worthy of honor, then it no longer matters if we receive honor or not. It’s no longer about us.

            The second half of this sentence is not as pleasing to read. If we despise God we will be disdained. Notice it doesn’t say that God will disdain us, only that we will be disdained. That word “disdained” means that we will recede and grow smaller until we are a trivial, insignificant being. I want to be clear: we will never be trivial in God’s eyes. He sent His very Son to die for us. Why would He do that if we were insignificant in His eyes? I think this means that if we disdain God, the person He made us to be will grow smaller and smaller until we don’t even know the person He created. The part of us that is sin-sick and evil will grow bigger and bigger and take over more and more of our hearts.

            How do we honor God and what does it mean to despise Him? This section of scripture is God talking to the priest Eli. He was an okay guy but his sons, who were also priests, were pretty rotten characters. They took the food that was sacrificed to God and used it to have feasts for themselves. Eli’s sin was that he didn’t stop them. So honoring God is to obey His commands, to sacrifice for Him, and to love Him above all else. To despise God is to make light of His commands and to take what is intended for God and use it for our own benefit. In other words, if you have something, does it belong to you or to God? I’m not talking about just material goods. I also mean that if you have a personality characteristic, or a talent, or an experience that can be used to God’s glory, and you choose to keep it to yourself or use it only for your own pleasure, that’s despising God. God even tells Eli that he honored his sons more than he honored God. Ouch! Let’s ask God to show us how He wants each of us to honor Him. Ask Him to show us the parts of our lives we’re selfishly keeping to ourselves. Let’s honor God with everything we have and everything we are!