Day 8 - Monday June 20
Honoring Daddy

“My daddy’s is BIGGER than your dad!”

“No MY dad is bigger and HE can lift 200 pounds!”

“Well that’s nothing. Mine can lift a zillion pounds. Besides your dad is ugly”

“He is NOT! Your dad looks like poo!”

“OH YEAH!

“MY dad is the best one in the whole world! What are you going to do about it?”

MOMMY! Johnny said dad looks like poo 

Ever heard something like that? It was father’s day yesterday, a day where dads are honored and told how much they mean to us. These boys were not too happy when their dad was mocked were they?  It hurt them to have someone else cut their dad down, even though they were both doing the same thing. It would have hurt their dad as well.

Our Father or Daddy in heaven is also hurt when people make fun of Him or mock Him.  Have you ever seen cartoons that make fun of God? I know I have seen it in the Simpsons and other shows.  Does it bother you when you hear it? It should.  How many times have you heard people use God’s name as a swear, “Oh God” this and “Oh God” that’? We all have.

Why is this? It is important that we do our part in making sure that God’s name is not made fun of. We can start by being careful how we live our own lives. If people know you are a Christian then how you act will either bring honor to God or dishonor to Him in their eyes.  It is easy to point fingers and say “They are all hypocrites! She says she loves God but look at the way she spoke to her parents.”  What about you?   

The bible teaches that unless we fear God in our hearts we cannot even begin an intimate or close friendship with Him.  Right now you may be thinking that if you are afraid of someone, you don’t come close but back off, so how can the fear of God draw us close to Him? We are not talking about fear as in “afraid,” but fear as in AWE and RESPECT and HONOR and OBEDIENCE. When we see who God really is we are awestruck by His character and what He has done, and WANT to obey Him. So often we hear that God is our friend and loves us just as we are, and that is true, but it is only a part of the picture.

Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear Him. With them He shares the secrets of His covenant (Ps. 15:14, NLT). To know God, share secrets with Him,  and be His friends, we must also fear Him.

ACTION:

1). To get to know this AWSOME God a bit better look up these two sections in the Bible.

Read them carefully and write down as many word pictures about God that you can.

• Isaiah 40:9-31

• Revelations 1:12-18

NOT A small GOD.  A God like that needs to be honored and not treated casually. If we are praying for THIS GOD to live among us in a greater way we had better be careful.

In Exodus 19:9-25, God speaks to Moses and tells him how the people are to get ready for His coming on Mt Sinai to give the 10 commandments. There were specific instructions on how they were to consecrate themselves, and warnings on what they could and could not do.  If they did not follow these instructions, they might die. This was not something to take lightly.

The Jewish feast of Shavu’ot remembers the first giving of the law to Moses on Mt Sinai. This year it started sundown June 12^th, the exact time that the consecration call started. As you will remember consecration means being set apart to be made Holy.  Here are some instructions about consecration for us today.

• Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.  Without

holiness no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14

• As obedient children… "Be holy, because I am holy." 

1 Peter 1:14-16