Hope-Filled Christian
Hope-Filled Christian
Striving for Respect: Renewing our Approach to God's Message
What if you've been unknowingly disrespecting God? What does it say about us when we can't afford due respect to His message? These thought-provoking questions form the premise of our conversation in this episode. We take a hard look at the alarming trend of lack of respect, particularly in places of worship. We delve into the impacts of such behavior in churches, workplaces, and other settings, casting a spotlight on the need to set aside time for God.
In this episode, we challenge you to take a more active role in your faith. The assumption that God will do everything on His own is misplaced. Your participation is paramount. We discuss the importance of focus, a trait that seems to be dwindling in this era of constant distraction. We urge you to take the path of humility, seek forgiveness for any lapses, and always strive to respect the sacredness of God's word. Join us in this enlightening conversation, and let's strive to respect God, His word, and the people chosen to spread it.
Hi, welcome back to HFC. One thing that I've noticed over the past two weeks or so, both in church and outside of church and just in work, is I've noticed this like general disrespect towards people who are speaking, people who are credible, people who have things to show that are important, that are evidence, that are research, that are like you should be listening to this. This is something interesting. This is something that has been a work in progress in that kind of thing, and so today I had a training and other training. I was kind of getting frustrated because I'm like, hey, like this person worked very hard on this presentation, here you are. You're being extremely loud, extremely rude, you're not paying attention, you're not giving any kind of respect, you're not giving any kind of consideration for the person who's talking. They were talking very loudly and, like I felt bad for the person because they were very passionate about what they're talking about. They had a lot of cool, important things to talk about integrating art with education. However, I'd be lying if I said it was something that only happened. You know, there.
Speaker 1:The other place that I recognize this kind of behavior was in church, or at least the church that I go to, and it didn't bug me and I'm not perfect Like I, obviously I. You know it's really hard to stay at 100%. You know, focus to whoever's talking, especially sometimes, and maybe it's a speaker that you're not comfortable with or a speaker who's talking about all this other stuff, and they're not always talking about the word and sometimes it feels like, oh my gosh, why is this going on and on about something that's not super important? And I think one thing I've truly started to feel irritated about is a lack of respect and that was just having to go on with with people were talking, teaching, sharing in the first place, but of lack of respect for the word that's been given. And this may not be in every church, but it's just kind of frustrating when you have someone sharing the word of God, who you're listening to, who's been appointed by God and wanted by God to share a word, and you can even be quiet and pay attention, or when sometimes coming to church feels more like a social activity and I'm not saying there's not a time to talk, there's not a time to you know, commune and do all this stuff, but people are just talking about all these little things and all this stuff and it's like okay, okay, okay, okay, that's cool, you have had your time for this. You could have caught up through text or phone, but give God the time that is his, give God the attention that is his. If you feel the need to talk about all this stuff, contact someone outside of church, contact someone outside of that. That little bit of time that we feel that some people feel is just for God, that little bit of time where he deserves all the attention, he deserves all the glory. I'm not saying he doesn't serve it any other time, but just for this little bit of time. If, even if you can't necessarily give him undevoted attention, undevoted time any other time during the week, try a little bit harder during this time.
Speaker 1:But sometimes I feel like people don't even try at all. I remember I don't even know who listens to this. I don't know if anybody from my church listens to this, but I remember being frustrated because we were practicing for worship and we had managed to finish early and like, wow, this is awesome, we can turn on some worship music. And we shouldn't. We can like pray and set aside time for God to really get into this and, you know, really just start that connection, start that relationship, start getting ourselves in the right mindset to receive, in the right heart position to receive. And I'm not gonna lie, people did come up.
Speaker 1:But it's just frustrating when it's like how can we just sit there talking and doing all this other stuff and not even like preparing. It's like you have to prepare and and to receive. I feel like I'm running this so weird but all I can do is go back to the, the stories that were God, or sorry, jesus compares us to a field. Right, a field has to be prepared, it has to be tilled, and I'm not saying it can all be done in, you know, 15, 20 minutes before church starts, but 15, 20 minutes before church starts is plenty of time to give God to move, to give God to start preparing, to start telling, to start, you know, getting that field ready to be sold into getting that food ready for this, that field ready for the seed, the word that's about to be planted.
Speaker 1:And it's just, it's really frustrating seeing the lack of respect that people give to God. We can be quiet, you know, for minutes, hours, while we're watching TV. We can be quiet while we're reading. We can be quiet while we're cooking. We can be quiet and listen to people when they're having a conversation about school or doing all this other stuff, and at work, oh, we won't dare talk while the boss is talking. When it comes to God, people feel like they can just talk over the word that's being spoken and people feel like it's just any other social convention. And what does that say about us? That we can't even show the respect to God that is owed, that the one time that for sure should be set aside it, which is Sunday and I'm saying you shouldn't have any other time, set aside, more private time but the one time where we're supposed to be communing and spending time with each other in listening to God, it's like people can barely focus. People are doing other things. They don't fully give themselves up to it. They don't fully sacrifice who they are. They don't fully, you know, live the life of a living sacrifice. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Part of these thoughts come from a book that I kind of read on and off. It's really hard for me to read it, not even because it's long. Literally, the chapters are super short. I just I have so many books and I feel so like scatterbrained sometimes and I am pick and choose from which books I'm reading from. It's from a book called the All of God by John Bevere, and he talks about giving God the respect that God is owed.
Speaker 1:When we come to church, we should be not just ready to receive, we should be preparing ourselves to receive. We should be making time specifically for that. We should be of the mindset of oh, you know words going to be spoken here. I should be preparing myself right then, and there I should be, you know, getting my mind ready, in order, like even before, like it's not time to talk, it's time to prepare to listen, it's time to prepare to learn, prepare to receive, and somebody's. I'm like, oh, nobody's talking, so I'm just going to talk and you know I'll go go about doing my things and I'm not saying that you can't do anything. I don't even know if I'm wording this way, but I feel like there's a need to give God the respect that he is owed.
Speaker 1:Today's verse comes from Poverbs 22, verse four. It says the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches in honor and life. There's other verse, other translations that kind of say it in a way, where they say humility means to have the fear of the Lord, which in essence means to have respect for God, to treat it with respect, not to be a person who is afraid of God, but to understand that God isn't you know, to your back in the call he may be a servant in that sense where he's willing to go out and seek for you, go out and fight for you. Go out and do these things, but don't take advantage of him. Don't just assume that you can show up and, oh yep, that's going to be good enough. Oh, I came and I listened. That should be enough. Oh, I came and I was here.
Speaker 1:So what Coming and showing up does not make you in a relationship with God? I mean, we've had these conversations the past couple of weeks about what it means to be in a relationship with God, where it means we're not just in a situation which we've used before, we're not just in a you know well, I'm going to take what I want from you, god, and then treat you like you know something that's worthless every other I could not think of a good word something that's worthless every other time. When we're trying to receive from God, we should be showing him respect, giving time and giving our energy to being respectful, to being quiet, to listening, showing respect by listening, to ever speaking the word, but I feel like we don't do that anymore. I, I struggle, and even when I'm telling myself I need to be focusing, I feel those little distractions build up like oh, say something funny. Oh, that was funny, Share how that was funny to someone else. Oh, check your phone, I'm sure someone's messaged you. Oh, check your phone, I'm sure there's an interesting notification or video or joke or video on Instagram. Oh, wow, that looks a lot, that sounds a lot like a song. Oh, my God, lord, you alone understand how many times I'm listening to someone preach and a song that mentions the same thing pops into my head and I get so distracted looking for the song that I'm not even listening to the word. And then I'm going to say that's a bad idea, because I'm getting distracted and I'm missing out on whatever is being spoken in that moment, because whatever is on my phone, whatever is being talked about, can be talked about after. And if it wasn't remembered and if we forgot about it, then obviously it wasn't very important. And if it truly is important, then bring a notebook, write it down, say ask so and so this. Later, ask so and so that later Look up song with words blank, blank, blank, blank later.
Speaker 1:I just feel like really frustrated and then I don't know. I feel like people just assume that, oh, god's going to do what he wants to do, no matter what, we don't have to do anything, it's all on God, because God does amazing things. No, because God in his Bible specifically says we are the body, jesus is the head and we are the body of Christ. So we are supposed to be moving, we are supposed to be preparing, we should be taking an active role in this. We are not a limp body and paralyzed from the neck down Not that there's anything wrong with being paralyzed, but I'm saying we are not paralyzed as a body of Christ. We are supposed to be moving, touching, reaching, healing, speaking, loving, and so we have an active role in doing that. Things do not happen organically, because if things were to happen organically, they would have happened already. Things do not happen by themselves, because if they were to happen by themselves, they would have happened already.
Speaker 1:And the fact of the matter is we as Christians should know that we should show respect. And again, I'm not saying I'm perfect, I literally, like I just said, I get distracted so easily and it's so much work. It can leave me feeling exhausted at times and I'm like I start to feel tired. I'm like, no, I'm not tired. Listen, listen, listen. And then it's like I'm focusing so hard that I'm getting antsy. And then I'm like why is this going on so long? And it's a whole thing. And I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but we should be making an effort to listen, to show respect to the word that God has anointed the person with, to show respect to the word that God has given to the person to share with us.
Speaker 1:But it's just, it's silly to assume that. I'm not saying God can't do it all on his own, but God isn't supposed to be doing it all in his own. We are the body of Christ. We should be moving, touching. And it always goes back to that song, like, if we are the body, why aren't his hands healing? Why aren't his arms reaching? I don't know the rest of the song, but it is the if we are the body, like gassing crowns, I think.
Speaker 1:And it's just like we need to be taking a more active role, like, even if people are distracted and stuff, you get up there, you promote it, you step forward. You say you know, if people aren't going to give respect to God, then I'm going to get up there and I'm going to show people that it's important to give respect to God, and I'm getting distracted because it's just all spider. But stuff like that, ignoring that, I feel like we aren't giving God nearly enough respect. And part of that, I think, goes into just the kind of world we live in, where it's like if we get bored, we can turn and do something else. We can look up something else, skip the video, go to something else, watch something else, listen to something else, fast forward that's one of my main issues. It's like I got so used to skipping through shows.
Speaker 1:If I find it boring skip, skip, skip, skip, skip then in real life it's really hard for me to focus. But if anyone deserves my effort for that, it's God that I should be forcing myself to focus, even if it is difficult, because it's difficult with every message. It's not just the boring ones or the easy or the interesting ones. It's always difficult for me to listen because I so badly just want to skip. Oh, I know that, skip, skip, skip. Oh, I know that, skip, skip, skip. It's kind of like in a story. If I know what's going to happen, I start to skip. If the pages in the story are starting to sound like oh yeah, I already figured that out skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, and it's just a thing. And so part of me is slowing down.
Speaker 1:For someone else that may be turning off your phone, silence in your phone, saying hey, can we not talk right now? I'm trying to focus Kindly, obviously. No, hey, can we not talk right now? I'm trying to focus. You're taking my you know and getting upset, just like. Hey, can we focus? Or shh Like, listen, pay attention, like this is the word of God that's being spoken.
Speaker 1:This is, you know, the living word, and this goes back to. I always forget it. It's John 1, 1. I always forget what it says. So let me find it real quick For your body. Oh, it says in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And so to show respect is to listen to that word. To show respect to God is to receive the word, is to give respect to the person speaking who's sharing the word it's.
Speaker 1:I think respect goes beyond just listening, though, too. It goes into, you know, like I said in the beginning, mentally, physically, like heart positioning, like ourselves, so that we're not just oh yep, I'm here, that's it Showed up like 10 minutes late, I'm ready to hear the word. I get it. If that happens, like sometimes, like yeah, everybody has their things to deal with. Or I wasn't feeling well this past Sunday so I missed it because I'm like I have a killer headache, but I still made sure. You know, it was like I'm gonna listen and I forced myself because it's really really hard for me to listen to a video because I get super bored just sitting on my like my phone and it's literally watching my phone. So it's like in my brain I'm like I could be watching something else, I could be looking at something else, and I'm like nope, and I put my phone like somewhat out of my reach so I'd have to actively go touch it to like mess with it.
Speaker 1:And then I just sat there and I listened and I thought what he had the person I was listening to this Sunday was important, which he was talking about how it's good to not be normal, to not make your relationship with God professional, to have a relationship that is not professional, meaning we're just doing it to receive benefits out of it, but instead doing it just because we love doing it, and we kind of talked about that previously. We shouldn't be having a relationship with God solely because, oh I'm, you know, I'm waiting for that best, that blessing. I'm putting my time so I can receive that blessing. Or I'm waiting for my next paycheck. You know, my paycheck of blessings it should be more about I'm here because I'm ready to listen.
Speaker 1:Nobody pays you to spend time with family. Nobody pays you to listen to your mother, your father, your brother, your sister or that kind of thing. The God is part of our family. He is our father, god, the Father. We should be listening to him, showing respect, talking to him as well. You know, I just I just felt like it was kind of all over the place today's thing, but I feel like there's an importance that we're missing the fact that we should be showing respect to God's word and what God has to share with us. I don't feel like enough respect is being given anymore. There's people talking, there's people doing things, there's people like thinking about what they're going to do after church and if that's something that's going to be on your mind, you know, during church, figure it out the day before. Hey, after church tomorrow, let's go here so that we don't have to think about it and you can focus on God, and then, if that's all you can think about anyways, rebuke it and listen. You know, just finding a way to promote you, listening. That's it.
Speaker 1:Anyway, as always, let's go ahead and pray, pray, dear God.
Speaker 1:First of all, thank you for your word. Even if we don't always respect it, myself included, I pray that you help us to be more aware of what we're doing things. You know when our eyes, our ears, our mind, hearts have wandered off your word, whenever it's happening, if it's happening throughout the week or if it's happening during church. Help us to be more aware of. You know what we're bringing attention to, what we're giving time to. Help us to be humble in that sense and realizing, lord, that your love is important to us, that your word is important to us, that you are important to us giving respect to them. I pray that you forgive us of our sins or anything that we may have done previously, anything that we're doing right now that is disrespected to you, and I just pray that you help us to see on that narrow path and keep us focused. And if we've been off focused lately, lord, helping us to realize why and guiding us to get back on as always, forgive some of our sins and the images. Amen.