Pleasing, Welcoming & Honoring

October 20

John 5:41-44
"Your approval or disapproval means nothing to me, because I know you don't have God's love within you. For I have come to you representing my Father, and you refuse to welcome me, even though you readily accept others who represent only themselves. No wonder you can't believe! For you gladly honor each other but you don't care about the honor that comes from God alone."

From the time we start Kindergarten until way into adulthood, we are so concerned about what other people think. We fix our hair like the pictures in the magazines and buy the clothes that our favorite stars model. When I was in high school I was so jealous of other people. One girl's mom owned a clothing store and she wore all the lastest fashions. Another was the popular homecoming queen while another was gorgeous and had dates every weekend. I so wanted to be like them. I so wanted to be one of them and I wanted them to notice me. The approval of my peers was so important back then and although I hate to admit it...it's still important now.

1. If God's approval is all that matters, how do we get His approval?
The passage above is Jesus talking about Himself. He states that the approval or disapproval of those who do not love God is not important to Him. His goal is to have the approval of His Father...the only One whose opinion matters. How do we get God's approval? We've got a whole book to tell us about Him but in Matthew 22:39, Jesus shares with us what He says is the most important commandment. Jesus said, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself." If Jesus himself said that these are the 2 most important commandments then we know that in order to get God's approval, we must do these things.

2. If welcoming Jesus is so important, how do we welcome Him?
When we have a guest in our home, we do our best to make them feel welcome. We give them the best seat, we offer them food or drink, we make sure they are comfortable and we spend time with them. Welcoming Jesus involves the same thing. We give Him the best seat in our lives...a front row view of what's happening in our daily lives. We offer Him our first-fruits...the very best of our time, talents and treasures. We make sure He is comfortable being around us by choosing our words and actions wisely and we spend time with Him through prayer and quiet time.

3. If honoring Jesus helps us believe, how can we honor Him?
I think of so many things when I think of the word "honor"...honor roll, maid of honor, medal of honor, honor society and so on. Honor always connotates a good thing. To honor someone means to hold them in "high respect". We honor Jesus when we live our lives in a way that shows Him the highest respect. Honoring Jesus means we make decisions that we know He would be proud of. Pleasing Him and welcoming Him are both ways to honor Him.

If a special friend came to your house for a visit, would you do whatever you could to please them? Would you take the time to "roll out the welcome mat" and give them the seat of honor? How much more so should we try to please, welcome and honor Jesus in our lives? He honored us in the highest way possible by suffering and dying for our sins. There is no greater honor than this and there is no one else on earth who would be willing to honor us in this way.