Respectful Attention

Sunday August 18

Read Proverbs 18

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. Malachi 3:16

The Lord paid attention to those who respected--"feared" Him. Makes you want to show respect for The Lord so that you'll have His attention, doesn't it?!  If our goal is to become more like Jesus, then we do want to show Him respect. How are we doing that? A good place to start is to obey His commandments--the Big Ten. One of those says...You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.  Exodus 20:7.  I remember as a teenager being reprimanded in the school library by my Mom, who was also the high school library aid, for saying "Geez." She rightly insisted that was slang for "Jesus." I wasn't meaning to offend Jesus--but by offending my Mom, I was offending Jesus, too. It took weeks--or months-- but I finally did break my habit of using that slang. Occasionally though even now I will hear myself say that if I'm really frustrated. Where did that come from? Whatever is inside us comes out when our buttons are pushed--or we are under pressure.  Another good reason to develop a pure heart. What is inside your heart?

Training Tip -  Find an empty notebook and label it " The Book of Remembrance." You may even want to create a special or fancy cover. In that book wIth your family write down ways that you all show respect for the Lord.  Then have each of your family members sign the book--or glue their photo onto the sheet and have them place an X or initial by their name. If each member has a separate page then you can add more praises each week to each individual's page. You can also include prayer requests in the book and note the answers to those prayers as ways The Lord gives your family His attention.

Prayer - Lord we praise You for remembering our family in Your book of remembrance. We love You Lord Jesus, as our Savior and know that You are the Son of God--You are God--our God. As Your believers our names are written in Your book of life in Heaven.  He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Revelation 3:5

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.

© 2013 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.