1st Peter 2:17

"Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king."

This is a verse that I have long thought to preach on, many commands are contained therein, and in following them, many peaceful times await those who obey.

Honour all men.

That is, show proper respect to all men. The Bible tells us we're to "do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10). While we may think our duty lies only with Christians, the scripture is clear that even our enemies are to be honored, through our love, blessing, prayers and our work of good upon them.

It is so easy to show honor to honorable men, yet, there should be given respect to all humans, even when it seems there's so little to respect.

Love the brotherhood.

That is, we're to love the whole body of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are brothers together in the Lord. When Paul wrote to Philemon about a servant named Onesimus, a servant who had likely stolen from Philemon, and left his service without permission, Paul requested Philemon to receive him, "Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?"

As a child, it was at times easier to be kind and charitable to friends than it was my own siblings. And sometimes in the house of the Lord, we are kinder to those without than we are to the "brotherhood." Yet when Paul commanded the Galatians to be kind and do good to all men, he said, "especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

Fear God.

Solomon wrote, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..." Later he recorded, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom..." Again, "Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long."

We, as finite, poor, weak creatures of the Great Creator God, should stand in the fear of the God. Christians used to be known as "God-fearing people." Now, it seems everywhere there is "no fear of God before their eyes." When Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife, and instead called her his sister, when found out he gave the following reason for his lie: "Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place..."

There is joy in fearing the Lord, there is understanding and wisdom. We recognize His great power, but then we also see His great love. How as a disappointed Creator (in that we fell), He has chosen to be merciful, yet we should remember the terror and dread of the Lord.

Lastly,

Honour the king.

Turn on CNN, MSNBC, ABC - pick up the New York Times, or simply enter a coffee shop and you will hear men and women cursing our king. While we may not agree altogether, or perhaps very little with the man who is our leader, the Scriptures do not give us the right to curse him. Instead it tells us to respect him, and to pray for him.

Perhaps if we spent as much time honoring and praying for those in positions of authority, the Lord would bless them and us, to follow that which is right in the Lord's eyes.