I am a naturalist. Being in nature evokes worship in my soul. Even back home, if I have free time, I would likely spend it in a few quiet spots I had dispersed around my town. Meeting places just between Papa and I. The last few weeks in Nepal have been incredible in a plethora of ways. The mountains and skies I daily see explaiming the glory of God, will never get old. And with much needed rest days like today, spent enjoying coffee in Himalaya Java, giving me a taste of home with some fresh roasted coffee beans. You've stolen my heart, Nepal.
Over the last week my team and I have traveled over 40 hours by way of bus, vans, hiking, elephants, and truck beds. It's been quite the week and once again the Lord is doing much in my soul. I am daily humbled and am grateful for the lessons in honor and the posture of my heart showing forth in times of discomfort*.
The Lord has been teaching me that I am always in ministry. When I am preaching the gospel, sitting in a coffee shop, or sweating on a hot, musky bus for two-thirds of a day that makes a middle school boys locker room smell like a BBQ pit (enter your own ideal smell if you're not American).
The Lord has been revealing to me, in mercy, the sober truth that people are watching. And in mercy, to you who are reading, the Lord wants to remind you that there are no "off-days". As Christ followers, people are always watching us, waiting to experience the embrace of the Father's love through our words and actions. Beloved, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth, and in our very breath we breathe.
And my prayer for you is that you would move from pure external actions to the issue of the heart. That the very motive of every breath breathed would be love.
I would like you to take a moment and define honor, what it means to you and what it looks like in your life.
Write it down before continuing.
In southern fashion, we had a good ol' Come to Jesus meeting where our squad leader Joel read an excerpt on honor by Jack Frost in "Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship"
it's worth repeating, so please weigh and consider:
"Honor involves a decision that is made to put love into action, to give a person a position of high value and worth.
Even when we have been disappointed, hurt, or wounded by a person, honor chooses to make a decision not to respond in kind. No matter what is felt coming from another person, honor chooses to not expose but speak words that give grace to the hearer. Honor views each person as a precious gift of God's creation and grants them a position that is worth of great respect. Honor chooses not to respond with an unwholesome word or tone.
Not to give honor is to assign dishonor. Judgment, resentment, anger, exposure, sarcasm, criticism, comparisons, favoritism, jealousy, selfishness, envy, and racism are weapons of dishonor that are used against those who are considered of little value or worth.
Each time we have a point of contact or interaction with another person, we have a decision to make. We will either arm ourselves with a weapon of dishonor, or we will give an unmerited gift of honor.
Have you noticed that there's no middle ground? We can be 100% right in our evaluation of a person's faults or weaknesses or how they've disappointed us or how they have not matched up to our expectations, but love covers and does not expose others' weaknesses or whine about them. What are we communicating when we talk to other people?"
May you be clothed with humility, honor, and love in your day-to-day walk. I want to encourage you to read Romans 12v9-21. Stop what you're doing and spend a few minutes meditating on the marks of a true believer.
Grace & Peace,
Michael
*10 hour bus rides that turn into 16 hours of bouncing and sweating. Or 3-4 hour hikes that turn into 5 and a half hours quickly show the posture of your heart.
