To Honor All

"Honor" - to value; to highly esteem; revere; treat with worth and significance

Can you guess why I am talking about this? Yes, it is Monday...the day after Sunday...when I am at church...you got it...this was the topic of study at church. It was titled Honoring His Bride. What was interesting is that it wasn't just about honoring those in the church - typically what we would think of as the "Bride of Christ" but our pastor talked about the fact that ALL men and women are made by Him and He loves them, grieves over them, etc.

This is something that we seem to struggle with. Why? I think we want to be honored but we don't always honor others - or nearly as often as we should. We judge, take up offense, become self - absorbed, and so on... And, once again, it all comes down to obedience. The Word essentially commands us to honor. Many are familiar with the quotations of "honor they father and mother..." and the usage of "honor and obey" in the wedding vows but there is more. I Peter 2:17 tells us to "Honor all" and Romans 12:10 states "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves". This is serious stuff and even though we struggle with it, by not paying attention to it, we walk in disobedience. I don't want that in my life. So how do we walk in this?

Pastor said that as we honor the King of Glory, He comes in. As Christians, we desire this. We want to be in the presence of God. So, how do we honor Him? We honor the Lord when we value what He values. To discover this, we read His Word and the above is in His Word. He values people. He values His Creation. Therefore, we need to do the same. A good summary of what honor does is this: it looks beyond imperfections, beyond natural impressions, beyond familiarity, and beyond personal opinion.

What did this look like? It means that no matter how well I know my parents (they aren't the perfect people I thought they were when I was 5) I still need to honor them. It means that when Barber is whiny and mopey because he doesn't feel well (like he is TODAY!!!), I need to honor him. It means that when I meet someone new I don't judge them for who they appear to be but rather that I honor them for who He created them to be.

This may sound too good to be true. Is it possible to really do this in our world? It is. If He asks us to do it then it is possible...need I quote Phillippians 4:13 "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me"? After I fought God on His calling for me to go into education and finally admitted that He was right, I got serious with Him. One of my prayers at the time was this "If you really want me to go into teaching - and teaching high school no less - then you have to help me to see these kids as you see them and give me a portion of the love that you have for them. If you don't then I cannot do this job." During my 7-1/2 years of teaching, my life was touched by over 1000 students. Each year/class I had at least one student that, well lets say that stirred up trouble for teachers and administrators. God helped me look past the bad attitude, funked up/tangly/long hair, tattoos, piercings, self-mutilation, not-so-nice attire, etc. and see the broken, hurting, insecure person who needed to know the love of Christ. The tricky part is that I taught in the public school system so I couldn't talk to any of these kids about Jesus but I could show them the love of Christ. I did this by simply respecting them, telling them that they mattered, and encouraging them to live to their potential - even when that meant celebrating their success in properly completing a monohybrid cross (focusing on the fact that they did it "hooray" and not that it was the 20th attempt). Teenagers are an easy target for negativity in our society. They are an easy target for the enemy. How much more should we honor them?!?

Obviously, I still have such a heart/passion for this age group. Even though God has taken me out of teaching for this season in my life, He hasn't removed this (passion) from me. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think and pray for at least one of my former students. Truth is, once I start praying, names just keep pouring out as I cry out for someone, anyone to reach out and lead them into the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Now He has me working with moms. Imagine that. If you don't know me you won't "get it" but hanging around with a bunch of moms drinking coffee is just not "me" or at least the former "me". I don't know if it is fully "me" now either. And yet, here I am, meeting relatively regularly with a large number of women. Probably more at one time than in my entire life combined!!! (...maybe an exaggeration, but you get the point) I know that He has already given me a heart for moms in the workplace - I was one for 3 years - and I now realize that I need to ask Him to help me see ALL moms as He does. So I have. We'll see what happens next.

Who do you need to see as He does? It may be one person, it may be a group. Regardless, ask Him. He will answer you.