Few of us need to be convinced of the value of respect – at least insofar as we want others to show it to us. Respect impacts all of life’s relationships from significant others, family members to friends. Whether you have yet to be convinced of respect’s relevance how would you describe it?
Many would agree that respect and other character qualities are sadly lacking in our culture today. From Rodney Dangerfield to Aretha Franklin many have talked and sang about needing some respect.
Many times the word respect is translated as honor in the Bible. Webster’s says honor is ‘to show high value, esteem, regard, to treat with courtesy and consideration. The Hebrew word means ‘to make heavy’ and the Greek word means ‘to place value upon’.
Typically, honor is one directional toward someone of an earned rank or deserved position. The Bible says to honor God and others, to view them with respect, as priceless treasures whether deserved or not.
We honor God for all His worthiness and honor him with our praise. (Ps.21:5; 96:6) Loving God and others is showing value to God and Others. (Mt.22:37-39; I John 4:10-11) Like love, honor is a gift we give to others, a decision to value them. Love begins to flow when we make a decision to value someone.
“To lower the value we attach to a person the easier we can justify in dishonoring them by treating them with disrespect” Smalley and Trent
The Greeks described a lack of respect ‘as a mist, having no weight or dust on a table to be swept away’. Unfortunately, when we don’t acknowledge people’s words and feel they don’t carry much weight or have little or no value to us, they can perceive we don’t respect them. Regardless of the reason when we communicate deep criticism, unhealthy comparisons, favoritism, racism or jealousy we dishonor people.
We all need to be valued and feel appreciated. We all can experience a deeper sense of value when we understand some truths about honor.
First, honor is defined both as a highly respected position and being valued as a priceless treasure.
Most societies honor someone for their authority whether earned or inherited. When the President of the U.S. visits a foreign country the locals clean up all the streets for the motorcade. How much more honor does the God of the universe deserve? Phil. 2:8-11
What if you think that someone doesn’t deserve respect due to their reputation, or their lack of caring toward you? Yet, the highest form of honor is in showing value to everyone. This is hard.We all have standards?
There is a story about a lover of books who met an unbookish guy who had just thrown away an old Bible packed away for generations in his grandparent’s attic.
“Somebody named Guten-something had printed it.” “Not Gutenberg!” gasped the book lover. “You’ve thrown away one of the first books ever printed. One copy sold at an auction for over a half million.” The other man, still unmoved, said,” Oh my copy wouldn’t have brought a dime, some guy named Martin Luther scribbled notes all over it.”
God sees His creation as very valuable. (Ps.139:17-18; Heb.2:6-7) Sadly, history has shown that not all agree with the way God sees people whether its sex trafficking, slavery, separate but equal, apartheid, or the unborn. We can disrespect others, but God says, ‘Those who honor me I will honor.’ (1 Sam. 2:30)
Secondly, honor is not only to be given to God, but is received by God as well. (Ps.91:15; John3:16)
God demonstrated the ultimate honor towards us sending His Son so that we might become His children. (Jn.1:12) We matter so much to God that he gave up what he treasured most, his only Son. Jesus honored His Father by laying aside His glorious high position in heaven to come to earth for you and I.
Thirdly, we give honor to God by how we live our lives. (1Cor.6:19-20)
We honor God with the decisions we make with our time, money and relationships. (Eph.5:15; Gal.6:9-10) When we honor others that we have not chosen or are not to our liking we honor God. As the Apostle Peter said, we should show proper respect to everyone. (1 Peter 2:17)
But at times we can be aloof toward others and hold onto our preferences of people we chose to show honor to. We struggle here don’t we? When we don’t show proper respect we miss opportunities to show honor and value to others.
Authors Smalley and Trent define honor as, “A decision we make to place high value, worth, and importance on another person by viewing them as a priceless gift and granting them a position in our lives worthy of great respect; and love involves putting that decision into action.”
Paul tells us in Romans 12:10,”Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Honor is shown in how we treat everyone, the elderly, kids, parents and others that are not like us. We treat others with value because that’s the way God treats you and I. Jesus said, “Love one another even as I have loved you.”
