August 23, 2024
Romans 12:10
“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other”
Think about a time you were honored. When someone spoke of your value to the family, how significant you were to the company, or how important you were to the team. Maybe they thanked you for something you did for them.
How did it make you feel? Did it inspire you to do more of the same? Did it make the sacrifice worthwhile? Did it give you confidence? Was it uplifting to you on the inside? That’s what honoring others does.
Honoring others can motivate, inspire, uplift, and energize. It transforms feelings of insignificance into significance, obscurity into remembrance, and the urge to quit into renewed determination.
Honoring each other is a significant act. It holds more importance than we may realize, and God can utilize it to foster profound internal transformation in both our lives and the lives of those around us. This is the reason, I believe, that God instructs us to honor each other.
To help us understand this, let’s start with Romans 12:10 which says, “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other”. Here are some thoughts from the Bible about honoring one another.
Honoring one another is to value one another. One of the ingredients of honor is value. Learning how to place value on people. This is where you see others as important. Significant in some way.
Jesus was teaching His disciples one day when He asked, “What is the price of two sparrows – one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows” (Matt. 10:29-31). Another way of saying this is "you can’t put a price tag on how important people are to God."
Our Heavenly Father regarded all people with such importance that He "gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). What more could God do to drive home to us our value to the creator. Recognizing the worth of others is a core aspect of biblical love.
The first step in honoring others in our life is to see them with value, to see them as important to God and therefore, as important to us too.
To honor someone is to value them through our words and deeds, a practice demonstrated by Jesus. He honored Matthew, a tax collector who was scorned by many, and Nicodemus, who initially misunderstood Him. He even honored Judas, aware of the impending betrayal, and Pilate before His crucifixion. Jesus showed honor to friends and foes alike, setting an example for us to follow in our deeds and speech towards one another.
LET US PRAY
Almighty God, your love for us is more than we could ever imagine. Fill our lives with your love, our minds with your thoughts, our mouths with your truth, so that every part of our living is touched by your grace. Amen.
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