They Don’t Deserve Honor!
This week we are talking about honor. A Greek word for honor found in the New Testament is “time” (pronounced tee may). It means to value, respect, or highly esteem; to treat as precious, weighty or valuable. Are we supposed to honor parents and leaders whose actions and life are not honorable?
Here is a great example for that scenario found in 1 Samuel.
Summary:
Saul was the current king of Israel. David was the one God anointed to be the next king. Saul had lost his mind and was trying to kill David, even though David had done no wrong. David seemed to have every right to speak badly of Saul, to rise up against Saul, or to even kill Saul in defense. Instead, we see two times that David has a chance to kill Saul, clean and simple, but he refuses. You can read about the first opportunity here in 1 Samuel 24. Here is the second opportunity found in 1 Samuel 26:
7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him.8 Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand; now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear to the ground with one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord ’s anointed and be without guilt?”10 David also said, “As the Lord lives, surely the Lord will strike him, or his day will come that he dies, or he will go down into battle and perish.11 “The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord ’s anointed;
David understood honor, and there are some great lessons we can pull from this story when we struggle to show it to those who we feel do not deserve it.
- to show honor does not condone the person’s behavior but instead trusts God
- to show honor recognizes God’s sovereignty in earthly authority.
- to show honor lifts up the position for what it is meant to be (remember David would be King someday, and his men would remember this lesson in honor)
- to show honor sees the whole picture and not just the current circumstance.
- to show honor brings greater strength and anointing to the one who honors
- to show honor lays down our perceived entitlements and judgments and trusts God for any needed discipline
- to show honor affects those you influence more than those you honor
- David honored the king, his annointing and his position not his actions
You might not have honorable parents. You might not agree with your government leaders, but God has set these positions up as positions of honor. Showing honor is more about your faith in God than your view of that person. It trusts God’s sovereignty and hopes for the future. Remember, David would soon be King, and his men saw and heard his honoring of Saul to the very end. David became one of the greatest kings of all time. Your kids are watching and hearing you. Your friends are watching and hearing you. When you show honor, you are declaring what you believe God says about a father, a mother, or a leader.
How can you show honor to those who “don’t deserve it?”