John: Out of a heart of love we want to honor people but to go one step further, if we honor the elderly, if we take care of our parents when there’s no benefit in it for us…
Joyce: Or maybe they haven’t even treated us all that well and now God’s asking us to take care of them.
John: There’s no benefit. God says there’s a reward. This is what people have got to understand, is that our reward comes from God and God will reward us not only in the life to come but now in this life. That’s the thing I discovered. No matter what people did in the bible, even if it looked like it was totally no good for them, if they honored in a situation, a reward may come from another avenue, it may come from another venue. In other words, let’s say your mother has not been kind to you but in her elderly age you do what God says — the whole book of Timothy… Not the whole book but many parts of the book of Timothy is about honoring — you decide to honor her. Well, your reward is not gonna come probably from her but it’s gonna come maybe from another venue.
Joyce: She might not even appreciate it.
John: She may never even show you she appreciates it. What you did is you honored God by honoring her. That’s the thing that we’ve got to remember that Jesus said: “if you do this to the least of these — the least — you have done it to me.” So, it’s the audience of one. You say, “okay, God, I’m gonna honor you because this is what you asked me to do.” And if you honor God, what did God say he would do? “I will honor you.” Now, the way he honors you will probably come not from that mother but it will come from another different avenue. This is why there are people who live an honoring life where they honor people but it doesn’t look like they’re getting anything back directly from those people, but if you look at their life, it’s extremely blessed, they’re prosperous, their finances are good, their children are happy. It may come from all different kinds of areas but these are the rewards that God promises when we honor.
Joyce Meyer – How I treat people is very important to God.: When I’m wrong, I’m wrong, when I’m wrong, I’m wrong,: And I shouldn’t make excuses for it.
