RECIPROCAL HONOUR
“Them that honour me I will honour “. 1 Samuel 2:30
These are golden words and they apply to all of us without exception. God is saying to us that if any person, anywhere, will honour Him, He will in turn honour them. To make it personal, God says to each one of us, “If you will honour Me, I will honour you”. We often hear of the honour bestowed by a country on some person in recognition of a worthy act, but very few of us will ever qualify for that sort of honour. But it is within our power to honour God and to have Him honour us in return.
What does it mean to honour God? How does He honour us in return? We honour God when we wholeheartedly render to Him our words and actions, the respect, the obedience and praise that are due to Him. In other words, we make it our chief ambition in life to please Him, to love Him and to serve Him at all times. This is the way that Jesus lived. He said, “I honour my Father” (John 8:49) and in John 8:29, “I do always those things that please Him”. The worldly man, on the other hand, seeks the honour of his fellow man rather than the honour that comes from God (John 5:44).
What can we do to honour God? How does He honour us? There are many Scriptural answers to these questions.
1. We honour the Lord by trusting Him with our whole hearts. Jesus told us that it is God’s will that “all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father” (John 5:23-24). He then added, “He that hears my word and believes on Him that sent Me has everlasting life”. We honour the Lord Jesus by believing His word and trusting in Him. God honours us in return by giving us eternal life.
2. We honour the Lord by serving Him. Jesus said, “If any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12: 20-26). In speaking of the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, our Lord was referring to Himself and His death and the fruits of His death. But He was also giving us a principle that if we too die to self, we will bring forth fruit to His glory (Romans 6;6, Galatians 2:20). As we honour the Lord by surrendering to Him and serving Him, He will honour us by making our lives fruitful to His glory.
3. We honour God by setting our love upon Him. Psalm 91: 14-15 reads: “Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him”. God asks us to “set” our love upon Him; that is, to have an undivided, steadfast love for Him. In return He promises to honour us by delivering us, by lifting us up, answering our prayers and being with us in trouble.
4. We honour the Lord by confessing Him before others. Matthew 10:32 reads: “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven”. How can we “confess God before men”? We honour God by openly living for Him day by day as a Christian. We honour God by identifying ourselves with Him in baptism.
5. We honour God with our substance. Proverbs 3:9,10 reads: “Honour the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty.....” By giving God His rightful place with our substance, we will be richly rewarded.
This article was written by Pastor Geoffrey Davies. He is a frequent contributor to this column. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he pastored a church for over twenty-five years. Since 1983 he has travelled widely, continuing his ministry of encouragement and Bible teaching.
