Honor

That word honor…it’s an interesting word we don’t hear too often.  When most people think of an honorable person, we think of someone with integrity or a gentleman who represents the lost art of chivalry.  But honor is such an integral part of being a Christian and today’s post will focus on several ways we can show honor in our lives.

Honoring God:  Our biggest commitment is to honor God with our lives.  At the very beginning of the ten commandments in Exodus chapter 20, God reminds us that we should honor Him by putting Him first.  We should honor Him with our body (1 Cor. 6:20..”You are not your own; you were bought with a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.”).  We should honor Him with our actions (Matt. 22:37-39… “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”).  We should honor with our words (Eph. 4:29…”Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”).  There are many more ways we can honor God.  If we love Him and have Him in our heart, then finding ways to honor Him will be easy.

Honoring our spouse:  Our marriage relationship is the most important relationship we have second only to God.  Ephesians 5:22-33 speaks a lot on the ways we can honor our spouse.  God reminds us in this passage that wives should respect their husbands and husbands should earn that respect through the sacrificial love they have for their wives.  But I’ve noticed another area of honoring that we should work on as well.  Men should honor their wives with their eyes and keep their hearts and minds holy and focused only her (Job 31:1…”I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.”).  In turn, women should honor their husbands by being trustworthy so that he has full confidence in her (Prov. 31:10-11….“A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.  Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.”).

Honoring our children:  We sometimes look at the parent/child relationship and think it naturally gives parents free reign to raise and treat their children however they want to, but God’s word says otherwise.  We are to train our children in the ways of the Lord and not look for ways to be right or discourage them (Eph. 6:4…“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”).

There are, of course, many other ways that we can be more honorable through our relationships with friends, other Christians, coworkers, or even strangers.  Hopefully this list has challenged you, as it has me, to find ways to be a man or woman of honor.

-Joe