Honor Others Not Yourself

My wife and i taught our children ministry this past week, the bible story was on Absalom. Absalom or Abe (as the kids called him) was one of the many sons of King David. As you read his story you find he does not seem like a bad guy.

In 2 Samuel chapter 13 we become aware of Absalom, we find one of Abe's brothers likes (a little too much) their sister Tamar. Abe must have known this because you can almost sense the tension in their relationship. Well the other brother, Amnon received some bad advice on how to get his sister and Amnon thinks it’s a good idea to put his buddy’s plain in place.

Well things get a little strange and Amnon ends up raping his sister and Abe finds this out and as you can imagine is NOT happy. We start at this point to see a different side of Abe, he becomes a scheming thinker on how he can get back at his brother. Well two years goes by and Abe's plan comes together to get the rest of his brothers and his servants to kill Amnon to revenge his sister.

Well needless to say Absalom and his father King David relationship becomes a little strained after all that. David would not even call Abe into his court after he moved back into town. This gets Abe a little frustrated and he starts thinking about how to get back at his father. He decides to try to take control of the kingdom and it almost works. 2 Samuel chapter 14 thru 18 tells of how he almost defeated David.

One of the things that stand out about Absalom is he started out trying to judge and justify his early action based on something that happened to his sister. But he instead of asking for forgiveness and seeking reconciliation with his father he became hurt and offended. He set out then not to honor his father or those over him but to try to get himself power.

Now Absalom in his life time had taken and set up a pillar for himself, which is in the Kings Valley. For he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absaloms Monument. 2 Samuel 18:18

We must remember even when we think our actions are justifiable, we have to submit to those over us and honor others and it will come back to us. Not seeking power for ourselves but seeking to serve God.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10