Proverbs 22:4
‘Respect and serve the Lord! Your reward will be wealth, a long life and honor’ – (CEV)
A good reputation and respect are worth much more than silver and gold (Proverbs 22:1). God knows that too. Problem is because we want a good reputation and to be liked, honoured and respected by others, we dedicate our lives to ‘pleasingmania’.
Forgive me, it’s not even a word, but you know it’s when we just go overboard because we want to please, we want to be liked. Usually people can just sense when you’re trying too hard, and they’ll just abuse your intentions.
God can bless us with a good reputation. He can give us rest from enemy bashing and dying by fire. He says when our ways please Him, He will make even our enemies to be at peace with us. He says our focus should be to love, fear and serve Him first. He says as we commit to doing His bidding in every area of our lives, love, joy peace and all the other fruits of the Spirit will flow out of our lives and this will be evident to all around us. In this way, we are a blessing to all who come in contact with us, then appreciation and honor will follow naturally.
So don’t fight to be respected, you really can’t even force people to like you or honour you. Focus on God first, everything else will fall into place.
Shalom.