Saturday, September 26, 2015

Proverbs 3:9, 10: Lionize

Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:9, 10
Honor: make honorable, honor, glorify
Lord: Yahweh, the proper name of the God
Possessions: wealth, sufficiency, what you have/own
Firstfruits: beginning, chief
All: the whole, entire
Increase: product, revenue

Barns: storehouse, supply
Be filled: be full, fill
Plenty: abundance, plenteous, satisfied
Overflow: burst open, break over [limits], increase
New wine: valuable product

Mine. Mine. Mine. 
All too often when the Lord gives us things, we turn into a 3-year-old... Mine! Mine! Mine! When in reality, God wants us to say, "It's yours, Lord, how do you want me to use it?" 

Honor. We hear that word often. Honor. What does it really mean? Honor according to the dictionary means to hold in honor or high respect; revere; to show a courteous regard for; to worship. But what does it MEAN to actually honor someone? 

Honor: Respect: account, adoration, adulation, aggrandizement, attention, celebration, confidence, consideration, credit, dignity, distinction, elevation, esteem, exaltation, faith, fame, fealty, glorification, glory, greatness, high standing, homage, immortalization, laud, lionization, notice, obeisance, popularity, praise, prestige, rank, recognition, renown, reputation, reverence, tribute, trust, worship.

When I first read the list of words describing Honor, the word "lionization" jumped out at me.
(Read that blog post here: http://createapositiveday.blogspot.com/2013/04/lionize.html)
Lionize. Lionization: to treat a person as a celebrity; to pursue celebrities or seek their company; to visit or exhibit the objects of interest of.

Lionization of celebrities is done every day. When we hear or see celebrities we like, we pause, we stop what we are doing to listen, we are in awe of them. 
Yet, we too often ignore God, the creator of all. Yes, we ignore God Almighty. 
How do we ignore Him? First and foremost, we ignore His Word and Truth. We choose to live our lives how we want, and ignore what He has commanded. 
And then, because ignore God, we do not give Him our possessions—rather we treat them as our own and use them for only our good. 

Lionize. Honor God Himself. For when I honor God, I will want to use all that He has given me in accordance with His purpose. The only way to be wiling to lionize God with my heart and all I have, is to have a heart that is permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God (Acts 9:31 MSG). For when my heart is right with God, I'll want to use all that I have to lionize Him to the fullest! 


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