that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.
Memory Verse: But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 1 Samuel 2:30b
No matter how powerful an individual is, there is always someone even more powerful than they are and as a result we see that usually among those in authority. So powerful to the point they are seen as the controller by the rest of the world but despite this weight of power, they still have someone they discuss with either to share knowledge or finesse before certain decisions can be finally made. For this reason, no matter how much own grows, we still usually are very careful because we really don’t want to disappoint those who believe in us. There is however someone to whom even the greatest man on earth is accountable to, the person being God.
Often a major part of our lives is lived to please. We find ourselves aiming to please someone really important to us and we see examples of this even in a biblical context where Abraham aimed to please Abimelech and denied his wife Sarah calling him his sister. Abraham feared for his own life and focused on pleasing the king of Gerar Genesis 20:1-10.
Although we see Abraham made a decision in an instance which almost caused the king to dishonor God but some of us live our lives, daily dishonoring God. We have someone like king Abimelech that we are constantly trying to please and this cause us to move our focus away from who we should be actually trying to honour and please. The place of God is being substituted in our hearts with man, something which ought not to be so.
One of the most vital point from today’s bible verse is the life of believers both men and women is ought to be lived honoring God all through. Although we see the bible here refer to older men and woman but this verse addresses everyone who believes in the gospel of Christ. The longer we remain born-again, the more mature we ought to become and at such we should start exhibiting the qualities of older believers as written by Paul the Apostle in Titus 2:2-3. With this, we can be fully rooted and help mentor new and other growing believers.
Daily we find people who are constantly trying to figure out just how to live in a way that pleases God and the bible is full of guidance on that. One of such is the one being referred to in today’s bible reading. God should be the center of all we do and our focus and hearts should really be focused on pleasing God. We belong to God and When we live to honour God, we do not only become a blessed individual but our lives become a blessing to those around us.
I admonish us to do all within our reach to live our lives pleasing God rather than focusing on man. God deserves all the honor and He is the only one who never fails, man can and man will.
PRAYERS:
- Father you are a wonderful God
- Thank you for all you have done, you are doing and will still do
- Help me from today not to focus on man, but give full attention to honoring you Lord
- I receive the power and attention to put you Lord at the center of it all.
- Forgive me of my shortcomings o Lord and help me to live above sin
- Receive my sacrifice of praise for in Jesus mighty name I pray, AMEN.
