Love - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
God wants us to live a life of love and to love as he loves. Even though we may have other examples of love—parents, relatives, friends, and church family—God is our ultimate example of how to love. In fact, we are only able to love because God loves us. There are several ways God wants us to love:
- God wants us to love him.
- God wants us to love each other.
- God wants us to love ourselves.
- God wants us to love our enemies
We honor God when we follow his example of love and allow the Holy Spirit to love through us.
Praise - "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord." Psalm 150:6
God wants us to praise him. Psalm 148:5 says, "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created."
One of the reasons God created us is to praise him. I am convinced God loves to hear our praise. The Psalms are filled with evidence of God's people offering praise.
We honor God when we praise Him for who He is.
Truth – "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:23-24
God is honored by our lives when we live in truth. We are surrounded by both subtle and blatant deceptions. When you turn the TV on you are promised joy and happiness and much more by buying whatever product someone is selling in any one of the millions of commercials that run every day. Everyday we are faced with lies from family, friends, coworkers, organizations, governments, and on and on. Not all of these lie all the time but people are taught from an early age that "little white lies" are OK or even better than the truth.
Sometimes we neglect to share the message of truth to a friend or acquaintance who is lost because we don't want to hurt their feelings or we fear rejection and miss an opportunity to honor God with the truth. We don't know how God might use that truth in the other person's life. Sometimes the truth hurts but it saves also. It is not my place to judge the outcome but rather to deliver the truth.
God is truth. God's word is truth. God's message of mercy and salvation through Jesus is truth. God wants us to be honest and truthful with him and all others around us.
God is honored when we live lives of truth.
Keep watch for more words that honor God. Leave a comment and share your thoughts about these words.
Blessings
Tim
