Honorology

Over the past two weeks I have had the privilege to watch the sermon series Honorology that Elevation Church has been broadcasting through their website. It is a subject that I feel has indeed been skipped somehow by my generation. I feel like the points that Pastor Furtick makes are spot on and are sermons that every person should have to watch.

1) The devil is in the details of dishonor.
2) Honor is a language and a lifestyle.
3) True honor is never mechanical or manipulative.
4) We don’t have to wait until someone is dead to honor them.

Honor just is not in our society today at all. If it is ever seen it is considered to be old fashioned, a thing of the past. What people fail to realize is how powerful honor really is. It is amazing how one act of honor can and does affect everyone who is a part of it or witnesses it.

There are simple things that it seems that parents have forgotten to teach their children that show honor to everyone around them. How to say, please, thank you, you’re welcome, excuse me, etc… How to respect adults no matter what the age difference is and for that matter how they should have a certain level of respect for everyone in general. They have even forgotten to teach their children the kind of respect that they should have for them as parents. One of the main commands that God gives children is that they are supposed to honor their mother and father. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been embarrassed by what someone I know says to their parents. If I said that to my parents…..never mind…..I would not even think of speaking to my parents in the tone of voice that I have heard kids speak to their parents with. I know that when I was a kid that I probably was never perfect about it but when I did mess it up you can be sure that my parents let me know about it. But, nowadays, it is common place. No one even seems to notice. Frankly, who would want to be a parent anymore? Talk about built in birth control reminders.

In the same sentence it should be mentioned how there is a lack of honor shown from parents towards their children. As a parent, you owe it to your kid to raise them to the best of your abilities. One of the main ways that I think that parents can honor their kids is to teach them to be the best human beings that they can be. Teach them respect, honor, how to speak properly, how to read, manners, independence, money management, how to eat right, how to take care of themselves, self-confidence and basic hygiene. When you become a parent the next 18+ years of your life are now about raising that kid to become a well adjusted functioning adult. You honor them by honoring your commitment to raise them like they should be raised.

One of the places that honor seems to have completely left is dating relationships. From the very start of some relationships it seems like having an honorable relationship is the farthest thing from the mind of either party. When did it become okay for a girl to ask a guy out? If a guy does not have the guts to ask a girl out, then how will he have guts to do anything else farther down the line? When did relationships become solely about the physical and not about whom it is that you are possibly going to marry? A man should not only want to protect his own honor but also that of the woman that he might possibly be courting towards marriage. When did men stop opening doors for ladies, paying for their dates or asking their father for permission to date/marry their daughter? These things might seem simple yet they are game changers in relationships. The man is the head of the household and more men need to step up to the plate and get their families on the right path from the beginning of the relationship.

When did our generation forget that an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work was a good thing? It should not matter how low a job it is that you are doing, do it with honor and the people around you will notice the difference.

Honor is not a thing of the past. Like everything else in life, it comes back in style. Live your life with honor and show other people the way. Honor someone today.