An Honorable Life

I’m still A-to-Zing in  this, my writing-exercise blog. Today is the eighth of May, which means the letter-of-the-day is H. I looked up the verse-of-the-day on my phone’s Bible app, and found my subject in Romans 12:10, which instructs me to honor others above myself.

Quite simply, that means to treat one another with respect. Clearly that should be easy enough to do. We treat others as we would like to be treated, and surely all of us want people to be polite and respectful towards us; thus we should act that way towards them.

It’s one thing to be nice to people who are nice to us. But then arises the issue of those whom we deem to be unworthy of our respect. Yet the Bible doesn’t differentiate in it’s instruction, and thus, neither can we in the way we treat people. When that is difficult we need to remember that Jesus put our welfare above His own when we were not worthy of His consideration. He simply expects us to do the same.

Another version of the Scripture seems to take the instruction a step further when it says, “in honor giving preference to one another.” That’s a little more difficult.  It’s hard enough to let someone go ahead of us in line somewhere, but to consistently step back so another may go ahead of us in life goes totally against the “me first” attitude that we struggle so against in our mind and hearts.

I think sometimes of the extreme examples of this, as when someone risks his own life so another may live, as happens often in combat situations, in rescue operations of one type or another, or even spontaneously in everyday life, such as when someone jumps in front of an oncoming car or train to push someone else out of it’s path. What strikes me about actions such as these is that they are split-second decisions that spring from the heart rather than a conscious decision of the mind.

Clearly I don’t have that much love in mine.

God comforts me with the reminder that we really don’t know what we have in our hearts until we’re tested, and we might be surprised at what we find. He does give us little glimpses, however, in the many opportunities we have each day to die to self in little ways in our interactions with those He sends across our path. When those “exams” show that we’re lacking in love, at least we know where to go to get more. Jesus is the ultimate example of One who died that others may live, and the more of Him we take in, the more love and honor we’ll be able to dish out.

The honor we bestow in life, we reap in the afterlife. I think it’s a good trade.

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
(Romans 12:10 NIV, emphasis mine)