When the Lord led me to do a devotional on honor, I was surprised by the various words in Hebrews and Greek that are used to describe the word “honor”. Anytime you have different words to describe something, it shows the significance of that word in that culture. The scripture mentions honor many times, so we should pay atttention to it as much as we focus on the word “love”.
We live in a culture who loves to “love”!! We love our God, family, dogs, house, shoes, football team, and so on. We generally think if we love God or someone, then it means we honor them as well. That’s not necessarily the case. Let’s take a look at a few scriptures that speak of honor.
Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’ Jeremiah 33:9
Honor (H-8597): beauty, splendor, glory
God is worthy of all honor. We can love God, but do we recognize and contemplate how beautiful, awesome, powerful, and glorious He is? We can love God and get casual with our attitude towards Him. We can run to Him with our demands and run back to whatever we were doing before. We are dealing with the God of universe who holds everything in the palm of His hands. He has authority over every created thing. He can move mountains, shake governments, and change hearts. He is an all powerful God who stands outside of time. When we stand before Him, all boasting dissolves because He knows our very thoughts and the words we speak.
When we honor God, our vision becomes clearer by letting Him have His rightful place and seeing Him magnified for who He is. This is so important for our spiritual walk. We can rest in God knowing He is awesome!!
So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:57-58
Honor (G820): without honor, unhonored, dishonored 2) base, of less esteem
Honor is based on God’s choice not man’s popularity. When Jesus came on the scene, He didn’t look the part. He didn’t fit the religious group’s idea of the Son of God. As a result, people did not recognize Him and honor Him for who He was. People had a certain idea of who should be honored as a religious authority. In addition to the fact that Jesus seemed threatening to the relgious establishment of His day because He was so different. They weren’t accustomed to this. Jesus didn’t fit their picture!!
Can you imagine being around Jesus and not recognizing who is standing before you? It doesn’t take any risk to follow someone who already has a large following and is popular with the crowd. That’s easy. It’s happening all around us. Most people like to jump on the bandwagon of success because that gives them the feeling that they are successful too. However, it is a lot harder to stand with someone who is not honored, or recognized for who they are in the kingdom of God!!
When we take our eyes off of what we see naturally, the Lord can open our spiritual eyes to see what God sees. Many missed Jesus’ mighty works because they had unbelief and did not honor the Son of God who was sent to them to be a blessing in their midst!! Do we honor people based God’s choice and election or do we honor those we are comfortable with?
Honor is placing the right value on someone. Another aspect of the word “honor” is value. We are such a consumer based and affluent society that we value things based on their immediate benefit to us. So if I enjoy my new iphone,I may think I have the greatest thing, but it is just a matter of time before a new version of the iphone is released and now my version looks like a substandard version!! We do the same thing with sport or Hollywood celebrities. They are important and significant for a minute until a more talented or handsome one shows up on the scene. Value has a longer lasting affect because it has a greater significance in our lives than just the benefit it provides for us in the moment.
Honor your father and your mother, and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matt 19:19
Honor ( G5091): to estimate, fix the value, for the value of something belonging to one’s self, to revere, venerate.
God expects us to honor our parents. The scripture is very clear on honoring our parents. That’s the place of recognizing the weight and the significance of the person for the long haul in our lives. The Bible doesn’t state that we should only honor our parents when we are young and living under their roof. It doesn’t assert that once we are married and leave our parents; we don’t need to honor them any longer. Neither does it mention that when they get really old and have no benefit to us, we can stop honoring them. The scripture doesn’t even tell us to honor them only if they were great parents. Honoring our parents is a lifelong attitude. It is something that God places great value on, and He is commanding us to do it.
Honor is not a popular word in our culture, but as believers we are called to be people who honor God and others. Do we honor others as the scripture prescribes? I will continue with the subject of honor in the next devotional.