JANUARY 2025
THE IMPORTANCE OF HONOR IN GOD'S KINGDOM
I get a sense that I should speak about a commodity that is of such high value in the Kingdom of God, but is little spoken of and even less is understood about it. It is mentioned 355 times in scripture and takes the form of kabob in the Old Testament and timao in the New testament. Kabob means weight or glory while timao means reverence and personal value.
Honour is sometimes spelt “honor”. To expatiate, it means to value, esteem, and respect someone or something. It could also be to regard or hold in high reverence as said above.
It can also be understood to imply, to enhance someone’s reputation. In other words, to show esteem for one deserving of respect, attention or obedience. The biblical basis to honor each other, stems from a place of honoring God (Deut 32:51, Ps 22:3).
In the Bible, the concepts of glory and honor are closely related as stated above when it comes to honoring God. The word “glory” refers to something that has inherent, intrinsic worth, while the word “honor” refers to the perceived value or esteem placed on someone or something.
With there being so many passages on honor in the Bible, it’s a wonder that we talk so seldomly about it. Honor is God’s way and it’s highly valued in His Kingdom. We see in (1 Samuel 2:30), God says, “ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: I promised that your house and the house of your Father should go in and out before me forever, and now the Lord declares… “ Far be it from me, for those who honour Me, I will honour, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” So if we want God to honor us, we need to be looking for how to honor Him. This is one of those where we get what we have sown. So if we want to receive honor from God, we need to have given Him honor.
You may be wondering how do we honor someone biblically. We demonstrate honor by placing others above ourselves. Romans 12:10 says “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Honor is unlike other things where you win by lifting others up, and not yourself. The goal here is to help others be successful. You shine the light on others. For this to happen, you ought to have honored God, received His honor, and thus be able to honor others. As we know our identity and realise how well we are accepted in Christ, then to lift others up is easy. A lot of times, we are quite insecure in who God says we are, so are busy calling attention to ourselves, or busy lifting ourselves up and thereby unable to honor another.
Also you see in places where the culture of honor is very rife, when people have been blessed by a ministry, they return to help to not only point others to the well (ministry) from which they drank and were blessed but also to assist in every way possible to again, lift the ministry up. So honoring fellow believers especially those who God has used in blessing you, honors God.
I think we have ignored the importance of this for too long and lack the beauty and fruitfulness we should enjoy in our relationships.
We can learn from the interaction of the members of the God Head with each other, and how they continue to lift each other up. It really is beautiful to behold.
God desires that as the Church, we have an obligation to protect dedicated leaders from being overworked and underpaid. We see this in the scriptures where we read, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain. 1 Timothy 5:18 puts it simply by saying “Those who work deserve their pay, “So if God had in His word showed concern for animals, then we ought to care a whole lot for His people who teach us, especially those serving in His vineyard. In the verse earlier in this chapter, Timothy says “ the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching (1 Timothy 5:17). Double honor refers to an abundance of respect and obedience from members of the church, but also to include generous pay.
Paul therefore considered ministry leadership an honourable position to hold.
The last area I will mention is God’s desire that we honour our parents. This is so important to God that He put a reward for us on this (Deuteronomy 5:16). Honour your Father and Mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
With strained relationships between children and parents, it’s obvious that this is an area where we need God’s help to forgive for past hurts and learn to love and honor our parents. 1 Timothy 5:8 speaks about adult children caring for the physical, social and emotional needs of their aging parents.
In this place, I will also mention briefly that honoring marriage honors God. Hebrews 13:4 speaks of honoring marriage, and guarding the sacredness of sexual intimacy between man and woman.
So let us go into this year 2025, assessing our relationships, with God and man and ask God to teach us to honor Him well.
God bless you,
Mina
