Them that honour me I will honour
by Pastor Jim Brown
Calvary Chapel on the Horizon
(www.calvarychapel-horizon.org)
1Sa 2:17 Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
1Sa 2:27-30 And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? 28 And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? 29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? 30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
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The Bible tells us that the sons of Eli were “sons of Belial” (or sons of the Devil) – in other words they were of the world (remember Satan is called the god of this world [2Cor 4:4]). Not only that, but they were placed into a position that caused those who wanted to serve the Lord (through making the appropriate sacrifices and offerings) to hate having to deal with the sons and thus hated coming to the altar of the Lord. God was none too happy about this situation and in 1Sam 2:29-30 He tells Eli (the priest at time and of whom these sons were) through a prophet that he had honored his sons above Him (God) and that because of it his sons will die and God will raise up another priest that will follow God's heart and mind and not his own.
There's a lesson in this for us today...what do we hold up in our lives that we honor above God? Think about this for a moment...take this seriously! God desires complete devotion to HIM FIRST, and to everything else second.
Eli allowed his devotion to his sons to bring compromise into his life. Do we let our children bring compromise into our lives? Do we lie to ourselves or to others to cover up our children's imperfections?
What about other areas of our lives? What do we honor above God? Our job, our family, our hobbies, our ??? Have our hearts become so calloused that we no longer see our compromise as sin? It appears that it may have happened to Eli! We are called by the Apostle Paul to examine ourselves and see if we're in the faith (2Cor 13:5). We are called to be salt and light to the world, ambassadors of the most high God, slaves to the Master whose yoke is easy and burden is light and to whom will bring rest unto our souls – JESUS!
God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness if we will simply agree with Him that our sin is sinful (1John 1:9) – if we've allowed these events into our own lives, the opportunity to repent and turn back to God is always there. He will always love us and continually desires a personal relationship with us as the elect of God. Ask Him today – seek Him with all of your heart and you shall find our great God and King anew.
Pray with me that we humbly allow God to search our hearts and then respond to Him as He speaks to us...
Email me! Pastor Jim (jim@calvarychapel-horizon.org)
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