December 15, 2022 - 1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭1

“All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.”

1 Timothy 6:1 NIV

Lord, this verse talks about slaves and masters. We might not know what it means to be a slave and serve a master as it meant when this was written, but I think it can also apply to other situations. Most of us likely can relate to working for a boss and I am sure there are times when all of us have felt like not showing respect to our boss. We come before you today and ask that you would give us the strength and grace that we need to show respect even when respect isn’t deserved. Even when we are shown absolutely no respect and are treated horribly, help us still show respect. Until the situation changes with this boss, or under any other type of leader in our lives, we want to honor them in all we say and do. Show us how to really honor and respect people effectively. Lord, we don’t want to do this only when we are around them, but also when we are around other people. Help us not to slander them to other people. We want to honor them both to their face and behind their back. When we feel like we just need to vent our frustrations, remind us to come to you with them. Remind us to pray for them and ask you to give us your heart for them. When we bring them to you in prayer, I know that you will change both our hearts towards them, change them, and change the situation. We want to be good examples of you in their lives. Use this situation to grow us and mature us. When we are squeezed, what is on the inside comes out. We want our insides to reflect you even in those situations that squeeze us. We want our every action in any situation to glorify you and be a testament to who you are. Lord, we never want our actions to reflect badly on you. For you deserve all the glory.

In Jesus name, amen.