Lately the Lord keeps bringing me back to one word: honor.

I have written about it a few times already. I thought I had said what I needed to say. Then this week, reading through Malachi, one verse stopped me.

God is not making a statement here. He is asking a question.

And the question landed on me.

I had a great relationship with my earthly father. I can still remember how I honored him.

It was not complicated. It was intentional.

I made time to be with him. When I told him I would do something, I did it. And when I sat with him, he had my full attention. My mind was not somewhere else.

Why? Because I enjoyed being with him. But also because I knew that time was precious. Every conversation with him gave me something. A word. A correction. An assurance of his love. An advise. A perspective I did not have before I sat down.

I never left his presence empty.

I see the same thing in my work.

I am employed by someone. When we have a meeting, I show up prepared. I am present. I listen carefully, because what is said in that room shapes what I do next.

I do not scroll through my phone while my boss is talking. I do not walk in late and leave early. I do not treat that time as something to get through.

Nobody has to remind me to do this. It is simply what respect looks like.

So I asked myself the obvious thing.

Do I do the same with God?

Do I make time for Him, or do I give Him what is left after everything else?

Do I keep my word to Him? The things I promised in prayer, the commitments I made when I was moved, do I follow through?

When I sit with Him, does He have my full attention? Or am I half there, thinking about the next meeting, the next task, the next notification?

Do I listen? Or do I talk, finish my list, and leave?

I would never treat my father that way. I would never treat my employer that way. And yet, if I am honest, I have treated God that way more often than I want to admit.

This is a reminder.

Honor shows up in what I do with my time, my word, and my attention.

God is not asking for something stranger than that. He is asking for the same honor I already know how to give.

He is not asking for more religious activity. He is asking for the attention I give to the people I respect.

The part that touched me most was this.

I gave my father my attention because I knew I would always leave with something valuable. How much more is that true with God?

Every moment I truly give Him carries something for me. A word for the day. Peace for a decision. Correction I need. Comfort I did not know I was looking for.

When I treat my time with Him as a box to check, I am the one who loses. Not because He withholds, but because I was not really there to receive.

Nothing dramatic. Just the same honor I already know how to give.