A Prayer To Honour God and Others From All Walks Of Life

 As if the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of indigenous children taken from their homes and put into residential schools wasn’t enough, now we’ve had someone run their truck into a family out for an evening walk – just because they were Muslim. 

God created all of us to live as honourable people – honouring God, honouring others, and experiencing the joy of living as persons of integrity and honour.  Living life only to please ourselves and thinking our culture or skin colour is better than that of another leaves us dissatisfied and vulnerable to harmful ways of living.  However, living with respect and honour for God and all those He has created is truly satisfying and purposeful. 

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10 NIV)

Being devoted to others and honouring everyone begins with honouring God.  Many of us who read the Bible know the story of a religious leader who asked Jesus which of the commandments in all of God’s laws was the most important.  Jesus answered and said that there are two laws on which all of God’s laws are based and that is to love God and love our neighbour. 

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

God wants our lives to reflect Him in us.  Jesus said that anyone who had seen Him had also seen His Father.  Jesus reflected His Father’s character when He went about doing good and healing everyone who was under the power of the evil one.  Are we, like Jesus, willing to look towards the well-being of our family, our friends, those around us, and even strangers who look or act quite differently than we do?  How can we honour them? 

We are all created in the image of God, whatever our culture, or skin colour, our language, the music we like, the clothes we wear or the food we eat.  There is something of God’s beauty and goodness in each culture and each person.  When we harm others with our thoughts, words, or actions, we are disrespecting the God who created them in His own image.

Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. Psalm 46:10

God will enable us to be the person He created us to be -- a person who experiences honour as we honour God and others above ourselves. 

Heavenly Father, Our desire is to live a respectful life honouring You and others.  We confess that in the past we have been prideful and self-centered in our attitudes towards ourselves as compared to You or those differ from us.

Change our hearts God to recognize Your diversity and creativity in those who have talents and cultures different from our own.  Give us grace to learn to live together with joy and respect rather than hatred and discrimination. 

While we can differ – even greatly – in our outlook on life and faith and even have very different tastes in things like music, clothing, and food – we can still appreciate and even grow richer as we share together from the unique experiences we bring to community.

Help us Lord to walk with humility and respect among those who suffer from injustices in the past and gently offer words of life and hope that You are speaking to their grieving hearts today. You have the words of eternal life, Lord Jesus, and we want to be those who give living witness to all that You taught.  

Fill us again today to overflowing with Your all-encompassing love.  Thank You for enabling us to experience honour as we honour You and others above ourselves. Amen

Well it seems across the globe differing people struggle to live with respect and honour for one another.  Let's let change begin with us today. Let's live as honourable people - those who honour God and honour others.