Places of Honor

This morning as I was running, I listened to the song by Relient K, "Getting Into You," a song that reminds me how humbling it is that God, in all His glory and honor chooses to love me.

"I've been a liar and I'll never amount to
The kind of person you deserve to worship you
You say you will not dwell on what I did but rather what I do, you say
I love you and that's what you are getting yourself into"

Though we can never be the kind of person God deserves to worship Him, as the song says, we're "gonna love him with [our] li[ves]". And that means, continually reminding ourselves and finding ways to worship our God who deserves the highest place of honor in our hearts, our homes, our banquets, our churches.


Place of Honor in the Church

23 In the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits [l] high. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. 26 The height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. 30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold. -1 Kings 6:23-30

This part of Kings goes into detail about everything that was decorating the temple: the carvings, the decorations, the size, where they were placed, because it was important to these people. Isn't it true? We write about and talk about what is vitally important to our lives. I talk a lot about my friends and family, and other people who have met their cousins just once can't understand why I would talk about all of my cousins so often. I talk about church, about God, even in my courses. It comes up, because it's who I am.

And we put our money where our mouth is... we put time, effort, money into those things that we value. $100 shoes might be crazy to someone who isn't a runner. And as a non-movie fan, $50/month on movies seems strange. And hopefully we do the same thing with our Christian lives... giving to the causes that we feel led to give to, taking care of our brothers and sisters in the congregations and the needs of the church itself. Both my church at home and my Iglesia here both recently invested in a nice new technology system. My uncle said, "There was no contention. After all, who wouldn't want to make worship a more pleasant?" For those in attendance... and most importantly, for the one we give the glory to. When we value our time of worship, all that we do is a special way of creating a more beautiful place of honor for our Lord, who deserves the very best.


Place of Honor at the Banquets

45While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46"Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." -Luke 20:45-47

Oftentimes, however, we forget that God deserves the place of honor in everything... in our homes, in our banquets, in our ceremonies. I am reminded of the Jewish tradition to leave one seat empty- for Elijah. I wonder if we should not leave one seat empty to remember that our triune God deserves the best place.

As we plan our wedding ceremony, Brad and I are trying to make sure that God stays at the center of this holy worship ceremony when we thank God for bringing us together and ask Him to bless our marriage and keep us united in Him. And importantly, I pray that He would be the center of our hearts, our home and our marriage... always, everywhere, the most important place belongs to Him.