We are often inclined to extremes. We often stake our beliefs on revelations skewed in only one direction. But as you read the bible, you discover a very balanced God. He is a very loving father with arms open wide to receive you just as you are, but this same love, makes him a responsible parent. Because love is not just emotion, it is devotion to the total good of another. As a good and responsible father, God brings up his children to maturity. In the baby stages, all the baby needs is affectionate love and all that is required from him is to eat and sleep. But as that child grows, the father starts to instill discipline (Hebrews12:7). Principles of responsibility and respect become important because they are necessary to produce a mature person who can relate with God and man confidently, with wisdom and honour.
Synonyms of honour are reverence, great respect and esteem. From the infant stage of God loves me, my sins are forgiven, repentance, we move on to Maturity- where the conviction that Christ loves us causes us to love and respect Him. This our love compels(drives) us to live for him in every way. "For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV Likewise, the understanding that we have been given righteousness as a gift (2 Corinthians 5:21) by the death and resurrection of Jesus empowers us to showcase the holiness and rightness (righteousness) i.e. integrity of our father God in all we do.(Hebrews 5:13-14) Christian maturity develops as we love the Lord our God with all our spirit, soul and strength (body). This love is not just emotional (though that is included) it is respect, devotion and honour.
Just as one cannot say he loves his spouse without showing respect, being devoted and honouring them (We realize that we are no longer our own; we were bought at a price), therefore we honour God with our bodies and our Spirits which are Christ's. 1Cor6:19-20 To honour God with our spirits is to consent and do his spoken and written word and to reverence (respect) his Holy Spirit. To honour God with our bodies to take care of it as well as keeping it from sexual immorality, gluttony and unhealthy habits because we know it is God's temple. To honour God in our souls (mind, will, emotions) is to set our minds on things of God and not fleshly things. It is to expose and feed our minds with only that which builds us up in God not tearing us down. This ensures that our thinking and speaking will bring glory to our father God. Luke6:45 God does not love us more or less because of what we do or do not do. His love is constant. But his desire is that ALL the facets of his personality be reflected in our daily lives as it was in Jesus when he lived on earth. ........ For everyone who lives on milk is [doctrinally inexperienced and] unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a spiritual infant. But solid food is for the [spiritually] mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between what is morally good and what is evil. HEBREWS 5:13-14 AMP We show that we are God’s servants by our pure lives, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show it by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, by speaking the truth, and by depending on God’s power. This right way of living has prepared us to defend ourselves against every kind of attack. 2 Corinthians 6:6-7 ERV