Week 10 – Honor God

Honor God

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NASB-1995)

“Whether then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

My granddaughter and I attended an outdoor event with lots of food, festivities, and vendors. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, live music, and people watching. We passed many vendors, one of which tried to entice me to listen to his sales pitch regarding home window replacements. I replied that we recently purchased a home built in the early 80s. However, the previous owners had updated it with high-quality upgrades. The salesperson replied as I was walking away, “Oh, you are so lucky! I stopped, turned around, and smiled, telling him it was not luck at all, it was Jesus blessing my family. He immediately switched gears, pulled some Christianese statements from his “Christian handbook”, and began to retort to several statements. “God is good!”, “Praise Jesus!”, and “You are blessed.” I smiled and thought to myself, I think he is a Christian. 

A second incident occurred about a month later with a non-Christian who sent me a video reflecting their current struggles. As I watched, I quickly realized it was a woman giving a horoscope reading, full of fortune-telling and divination. She even flashed a couple of tarot cards during her video. My stomach tightened because I had to figure out how to address this with the non-believer who sent it. I called the person and, as kindly as I could, explained that they should be cautious because the world they were exposing themselves to by watching this video is demonic. I shared the truth of God’s Word and the gospel with them. They politely rejected everything I shared, and we agreed to disagree. My assignment in both cases was clear: to speak the truth in love, share the gospel, and glorify God in all I do. 

I have not always succeeded in honoring and glorifying God. I’ve had conversations where I walked away and later reflected on what I should have said or done but didn’t. The wonderful thing about our God is that He offers make-up exams because He wants us to succeed. Thankfully, I passed in these two instances. When I’ve been disobedient in the past and failed to speak up or act when God prompted me, I blended in with the world’s standards of behavior and language, which meant I wasn’t standing out as a Christian. When we disobey by responding as God directs in situations that oppose His truth, we dishonor Him. We are called to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:14-16). Accepting someone’s “good luck” or not commenting on a video that clearly contradicts God’s Word is to take credit away from everything God has blessed us with and to attribute it to chance, astrology, sorcery, or other sources, rather than acknowledging God’s sovereignty. Seemingly innocent statements like “knock on wood,” “break a leg,” or teaching a child to “cross their fingers” to hope for a positive outcome seem harmless. But is that really the case, or is that exactly what Satan, the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), wants us to think? He wants us to believe that the small things we do that fall short of God’s standards are harmless and unimportant. He aims to slowly draw us away from giving God glory and from fully surrendering to Him by gradually leading us to conform to the world rather than to God’s standards.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (NASB 1995) states, “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things, the Lord your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.”

We are created to bring God glory (1 Corinthians 6:20, 10:31; Proverbs 16:4; Revelation 4:11), which Satan has been trying to steal since he was expelled from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15; Matthew 4:9). Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The only way we will develop a keen awareness of the small traps of the enemy, things and trends that oppose God, is to stay in His Word and renew our minds with each interaction, for His Word is living and active. We are all vulnerable to deception if we do not allow God’s Word to dwell in us and help us grow toward maturity. Hebrews 6:14 states that solid food (God’s Word) is for the mature, who, through practice, have trained their senses to discern good from evil. Part of growing in God’s Word is being able to tell good from evil, even when it appears to be harmless. Our goal, my friends, should be to honor God in everything we do and to avoid, even slightly, conforming to the world.