God Speaking

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves”

(Romans 12: 10)

Perhaps all of us at birth are filled with zeal for self and the importance of being number one. If you have ever watched toddlers first interacting with other small children, how they relate is fascinating to see, as they wrestle toys away from one another and when they can speak, often accompanied by shouting out Mine and Me First. The poor parents constantly trying to teach that all important word, share, or “it is [your/their] turn next”. We do get taught how to lovingly live with one another from a young age.

Unfortunately, as we grow into adults those same toddler woes emerge and colour our lives. I know myself how irritated I become if I feel somebody has pushed ahead of me in the line up to pay for the groceries and I want to shout, me first. The Heavenly Father knew we would need some teaching and Jesus gave us the best example of how to do that;

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15: 12)

When Paul is writing to the new churches, he adds another dimension to what this means. He tells Jesus’ followers to honour one another. I looked up the dictionary to check the meaning of this word and this description stood out for me;

To have high respect and esteem  

Paul was reminding them to respect their fellow believers and to show this respect to all others who would be witnesses to their behaviour. Esteem is another important word to remember in their lives and of course in our lives a well. Not to look down on others, not to feel superior to others they thought beneath them. To accept the worth of others.

The word honour in Scripture, was often associated with God himself and the children of Israel were told to honor their Almighty God and not just with their lips but with their whole being,

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29: 13)

The wonderful outcome of honouring one another is that in so doing we honour God himself. So, when we treat others with respect and esteem, we are honouring God himself;

“He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.” (Proverbs 14: 31)

I certainly feel a lovely feeling when someone says to me, you go ahead. A simple gesture but when we remember that when we make a point of honouring others we are also honouring God, and when we view others as being more important than ourselves it is amazing how we get that beautiful feeling that we are not only honouring God we are pleasing him.