Dwight Fletcher | Honouring God the way he deserves

As August comes to a close today, this week will bring much change for us in Jamaica. Schools resume. Traffic increases. The heat (hopefully) starts to die down. And our nation will host the General Election. So, I wanted to use today to bring our series on honour to a close.

All month long we’ve been discussing this forgotten, often overlooked Kingdom principle of honour – the way God brings breakthrough to those who respect and value those around them, how He opposes the one who operates in dishonour, and the main characteristics of a life built by His gold standard of honour. I believe that God takes this seriously, and so I pray that as He speaks to you about this topic, that your heart will be open to receive His truth and walk in His way.

We couldn’t end the series, however, without discussing this ultimate truth – honouring God must be the foundation for all our actions and beliefs. All true honour is born out of a heart surrendered to the King of Kings. Psalm 22:23 NIV says, “ You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honour him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!”

Our secular culture tends to treat God as common. Have you ever heard the saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt”? In many ways, we’ve become too familiar with God. We refer to Him as “the Man Upstairs” or “the Big Guy”. That’s not honour. We say we believe that He is real, and we may even go to church, but we don’t obey what He says, or live according to the Bible. That’s not honour. We go to rallies, sporting matches, concerts and parties where we show more excitement and support for celebrities, influencers and friends than we do for God. That’s not honour.

VALUE OTHERSI don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be like the Israelites, of whom it was said, “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honour Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” (Isaiah 29:13)

That won’t be us. That won’t be you. We will not be a generation that gives God only lip service. Instead, we’ll show Him honour from our hearts. It’s because of what He did that we are who we are. Pastor and author, John Bevere, said, “ True honour originates from the heart and is an outflow of the fear of the Lord.”

Jesus is the ruling, reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the Alpha and the Omega. When He returns, it will be with a sword. He is the Righteous One who shed His blood so that we would live. He deserves our righteous fear and awe.

We have to stop treating God as common or ordinary. We have to see Him as He truly is. There is no one wiser, no one more powerful, no one kinder and no one more worthy of our devotion. When we look at nature and all He has made, when we consider His character in the Bible, and even when we interact with others, we have the opportunity to use these encounters to fuel our understanding of who He is.

When we’re able to see Him as He is, we’re transformed to become more like Him. Then we will value others and show them honour, not because we want to be good people, but because His signature is on our hearts. We will want them to see they were valuable enough for Jesus to give His life for them. We will live with honour, not so God won’t be angry with us, but because when we do, we remind ourselves and everyone else who we really are, who God is, and how much He loves those around us.