03/09/2026
IT’S THURSDAY, WEEK IS NEARLY DONE. AS WE HEAD TO HERITAGE DAY, MAYBE THIS IS FOR YOU. ARE YOU LIVING TWO LIVES, JESUS SUNDAY AND THE WORLD MONDAY TO SATURDAY.
GOD HONOURS THOSE WHO HONOUR HIM
1 Samuel 2:30 AMP
“Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house and that of [Aaron] your father would walk [in priestly service] before Me forever.’ But now the Lord declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be insignificant and contemptible.”
1 Samuel 2:30 NLT
““Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.”
One of the many truths of the kingdom go God is that if we will honour God, He will honour us. If however we dare to treat Him disrespectfully, we will also be treated as least in His kingdom.
* The initiative rests with us.
* Our response to God determines His response to us.
Eli had been the priest of Israel for many years, and He knew the standards for righteous living that God required. Yet Eli faced a dilemma for his sons were living in direct opposition to God.
As their father, Eli had to decide whom he would honour. He could not defer to his immoral and ungodly sons and also exalt the God he served. By default, Eli chose to honour his sons, for he did not insist that their behaviour conform to God’s standards.
Eli could have pleaded that he still loved God but that he simply could not bring honour to Godl with his family. Yet God viewed Eli’s behaviour differently.
1 Samuel 3:12-14 NLT
“I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family, from beginning to end. I have warned him that judgment is coming upon his family forever, because his sons are blaspheming God and he hasn’t disciplined them. So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.””
Eli revealed his own heart when he failed to honour God before the people of Israel by the way he dealt with his sons. This is why God punished Eli and his sins severely.
1 Samuel 4:17-18 NLT
““Israel has been defeated by the Philistines,” the messenger replied. “The people have been slaughtered, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were also killed. And the Ark of God has been captured.” When the messenger mentioned what had happened to the Ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and overweight. He had been Israel’s judge for forty years.”
* God is not please if you praise Him at church but not in your workplace, home, places of entertainment.
* It is not acceptable for you to revere God when you are with other Christians but not in your school or neighbourhood.
* He expects you to honour Him completely with your words, with your actions, with your life.
IF YOU HONOUR HIM, HE WILL HONOUR YOU.
There is such great lesson for us to learn from Eli and his sons today. We see the terrible consequences to us and our families when, we as “so called Christians” mock God.
Galatians 6:7 ESV
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”
As we head to heritage day, as South Africans, we must be very aware of fact that if there areas in our heritage that are an abomination to a Holy God, we must not follow those traditions.
Exodus 20:4-6 ESV
““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”