Monday, May 12, 2008

Honor Priority

“You have honored your own sons more than Me…” (1 Samuel 3;29b CSB)

Eli was the priest at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. His two sons, Hophni and Phinehas assisted him as priests, and they were a lecherous pair. They were wicked men. Eli spoke to them about the evil they were doing, but he took no action to remove them and no action to restrain them, with the result that they simply continued.

God sent a prophet to announce to Eli that God was removing the priesthood from Eli and his family. He told Eli that Hophni and Phinehas would both die on the same day. The short of it was simply that Eli had honored his sons more than he had the Lord God, and for that he would receive God’s judgment on his family.

This story serves to remind us that as Christians we need to honor God first of all. God wants us to honor our families as well. He does not want us to neglect them or to dishonor them in any way. But as believers we are to honor God above all others and all else. Beyond that we are to honor our families and then others.

In fact, the Ten Commandments are set up this way. The first four commandments deal with how we are to honor God, followed by the fifth commandment where we are to honor our parents. Beyond that we are to then honor our families and others. It is possible to make your family your “god” so to speak. But we need to remind ourselves that we are to honor God above all others, including our families. That is what serves to keep our lives ordered before the Lord.

Father, Help us to carry out on a day to day basis our desire and need to honor You above all others, so that all of our other relationships will take on the priority that is needed. Amen.

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