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I watched in amazement at the respect
paid to President Reagan in his funeral proceedings. The hearse door was
opened. A soldier very, very slowly and carefully removed the casket from
the hearse until the rest of his team of military pallbearers could grasp
it. Then he took his place with them. The band played, “Hail to the
Chief”, the song that had been played to announce the arrival of the
President so many times while he was living. Then the band played “My
Country ‘Tis of Thee” as the pallbearers marched with precise and
deliberate steps toward the presidential library.
The soldiers carried President Reagan
into the library, marching across the room until they came near the place
where his casket was to rest. They were given orders to stop, to left
face toward the casket, and then to raise it into the air. Then orders
were given to move one step at a time to their right until the casket was
in position to be lowered onto the velvet-covered bier. Once the
President’s body was carefully laid, the soldiers bowed their heads and
stood in silence for a few moments. Finally, another military color guard
approached and positioned themselves as if to guard the casket and orders
were given to those who carried the President’s body to march away.
As I watched the
proceedings for President Reagan, I wondered why more do not give God the
honor that He is due for who He is, for what He has done for man in the
past, and for what He is doing today? Listen to some excerpts from the
Psalms, songs that were sung to honor God and to encourage
others to do the |
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same: “O come, let us sing for
joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout
joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great
King above all gods. In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The
peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who
made it, And His hands formed the dry land. Come let us worship and bow
down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we
are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. (Ps 95:1-7) …
“The Lord reigns, let the peoples
tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! The
Lord is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the people. Let them
praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.”
Ps 99:1-3) …
“Shout joyfully to the
Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with
joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has
made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His
pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His
lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”
(Ps 100)
God is our Maker, our
King, our Shepherd, and our Savior. His character is one of
lovingkindness and faithfulness. If honor is due to men, such as our
presidents (and, so it is- see Romans 13:8), what honor must be due to
God?!!
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We have built museums, monuments and
memorials to honor men such as the Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas
Edison and Henry Ford whose inventions have blessed the world. But, do we
honor the One who made Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas Edison, and Henry
Ford? We have built museums, monuments, and memorials to honor those who
sacrificed their lives in service to our country and others around the
world. But, do we honor Jesus who left the glories of heaven to make the
supreme sacrifice in service to mankind, saving all of us from our sins?
We have built museums, monuments, and memorials to honor great Presidents
such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but do we honor God and His
Son Jesus the Christ (King), the best Leaders we could ever have, if we
would only follow their perfect Law?
Though there is every
reason to honor God, so many in our society, like the Gentiles Paul spoke
of in Romans 1, do not praise Him or give thanks (Rom 1:21). It seems
that so few take time to assemble with others for worship, especially on a
regular basis. How many make it a priority to honor God? How many even
take the time at home to bow their heads and to thank God for the food He
has blessed them with? What about you, do you honor God by
giving Him praise and thanksgiving?
Though there is every reason to honor God, so many in
our society, like the Gentiles |
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Paul spoke of in Romans 1, also are
dishonoring God by living immoral lives. Homosexuality is being pushed as
something that should be honored with a ceremony and called “marriage”,
but speaking of those who refused to honor God, Paul said, “For this
reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women changed
the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also
the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their
desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and
receiving in their own persona the due penalty of their error.” (Rom
1:26-27)
Paul continued with a long list of attitudes and actions of men who
refused to acknowledge God and honor Him, a list that sounds like today’s
newspaper- greed, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of
evils, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy,
unloving, and unmerciful. The apostle wrote that those who so dishonor
God are worthy of death (separation from God for eternity) (Rom
1:28-32). What about you, are you hon-oring God by living
according to His moral law?
We invite you to
assemble with us for worship and Bible study at the times listed below.
Our desire is to our honor God, not only by our lips, but also by our
lives. We pray that this is your desire, too. Won’t you
join with us to honor our great, holy, and awesome God? |
