HONORING OUR FATHER
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and recognize and honor and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 AMP)
When I was a kid, it was made very clear that I should represent my dad well. Whatever I did reflected on him and he did not want to hear anything about me that did not reflect well on him. Truly, it only made sense but of course it took quite awhile for me to really make sense of it. I just knew I better behave myself.
Of course, I had a multitude of failures in my learning process but I seldom was lax when he was present. He had a way of turning me around. Sometimes I just did not consider what he may or may not approve of. Like many kids I did my best to keep him from finding out about what I thought he may not like.
Once, I knew that he knew about something that I knew that he would not approve of. That was the most difficult time of all, because he never said anything. I kept waiting for the hammer to fall but it never did.
When it comes to our heavenly Father, I find that until we really know Him we tend to treat him like an earthly father. We want to look good when we are in church but we fail to realize that He is always present. We cannot hide anything from Him. He knows all things. But somehow we just hope it will work out in our favor.
When I disappointed my dad, I tried to make up for it, but I don’t know if I did. We did not talk about being forgiven. We talked about how we better be sorry. I think I was sorry; sort of, sometimes. Funny, I don’t really remember.
To be honest, I am not sure I am sorry enough when I forget that God knows everything. Oh I ask Him to forgive me and I say I am sorry, but it is at times like this that I think of my sorry.
Am I so comfortable with God and His love that I lose my awareness of how I rob Him of glory when there is a bump in my story? Well I hope not, but it is worth considering.
It is not about impressing God, it is about honoring God. There is a wonderful song that says I want to honor you. I want to honor your amazing love. The more we know God’s amazing love; I think we know His amazing presence. His presence is all we need.
I want to know God’s presence more. I want to have God receive the glory due His name. He is worthy of our praise all the time. Life is full when we are at peace with God. He is the Prince of Peace. He is perfect and never fails.
I thank God for the privilege of being a father. May the Lord be glorified in all the earth.