Obedience

The question is: could you be Haman?

If God asked you to set aside your prejudices, to not worry about whether you like someone or not, to not think about whether that person is right or wrong in your eyes, and to honor him, could you do it? Would you do it?

This is the kind of obedience that we all need to have. When God asks us to do something, we need to be a people who just do it. Not a people who take that opportunity to explain to God why He's wrong. Or to talk about our personal beliefs about this or that or the other. Or to point out the gallows that we've already erected because that person that God just told us to love? Yeah, that person deserves to be hanged. 

At least, we think so. 

Haman paraded Mordecai in highest honor right past those gallows. For no other reason than that the king told him to.

Spoiler alert: this is exactly what God has already told us to do. 

God told us to love one another. Period. To honor one another. To encourage one another. Not others who think like us, look like us, act like us, believe like us, but anyone and everyone created in the image of God who bears His name and glory in their very creation. Everyone and anyone who God so loved that He sent Jesus to live and die and live again for them. Which is, by the way, anyone and everyone. 

God's been sitting in His throne room thinking about that person that you've been sitting in your bedroom stewing about. Think about that for a second. God's been opening the book of His own story and reading pages out of it and seeing how that person - that very same person - brought tremendous honor and glory to His name, and He's been dreaming up ways in His heart to honor that person. Yes, that person. 

Then you show up. You, a faithful servant, a trusted friend, a beloved companion, and God realizes that you are a great way to honor that person. You are a great person to send as a blessing into that person's life. You are an excellent choice to carry out what the King wants to do for the man who has honored Him. 

Can you just think about that for a second? I mean, really think about that. Think about that person you've been grumbling about for far too long. Think about that person who disgusts you, whose lifestyle you just can't believe or understand. Think about that person you keep thinking would be better off dead - at least, it would be better off for you if they were dead. 

And then, think about God thinking about that person. Think about God cherishing that person's part in His story. Think about God dreaming up ways to honor that person. 

Think about God asking you to do it. 

Could you? Would you? 

If your answer is no, then I hate to tell you this, but Haman is a better person than you are. Let that sink in.