If men lift you up, they can just as easily bring you down. Consequently, if the world system is the source of your validation, beware. At best, your life will be a roller coaster of highs and lows. Which is why it is critical to ascertain the real source of one’s honor.
When the world promotes you, it will demote you as soon as it finds another hero. All trophies will ultimately be trashed. Somebody else will best any achievement before all is said and done.
You may not be old enough to know the global excitement that attended the 4-minute mile. But at least you know that no one is likely to think anything now of such an achievement. It has long been overtaken.
Therefore, if you derive honor from achievements, despondency will most definitely attend your days. They hail you today and tomorrow, they hail another. If you doubt that, ask King Saul who slew one thousand and received accolades. That is, until David, not even King, slew ten thousand. Trust the women. They sang and danced in praise of, not the King, but of David.
King Saul Misplaced The Source Of His Honor
As you can very well imagine, that did not sit too well with the King. The Bible records that he was very angry. From that day on, King Saul eyed David. Naturally, that sort of eyeing was neither pleasant for the King nor healthy for David. Poor King Saul, he misplaced the real source of one’s honor.
He assumed it was from achievements, forgetting that there could be someone better. As indeed, there was. And his waterloo was not even a king; not yet anyway. With that development, the poor King rightly divined the natural outcome of David besting him that day.
He surmised that the only way left for David to go was upward. He knew without a doubt that David would displace him from the throne! How galling that realization must have been for the King whose honor flowed from the wrong source.
Jesus Knew The Real Source Of One’s Honor
In this regard, believers have a secret weapon, if they know how to make the most of it. The One we follow knows the real source of one’s honor. He regularly fed thousands but did not derive any honor from that. Wherever He went, there was not one sick person left when it was time for Him to depart. But He refrained from drawing honor and validation from any of that.
Seeing all these miracles that Jesus performed, the people reasoned that no King could serve them better than Jesus. They hence wanted to forcefully crown Him King but He was having none of that! He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
As believers, we should be like Jesus. We should take after Him and walk in His footsteps. Perhaps when we do that, we can respond as Jesus responded to the query concerning the source of our honor. He said, “It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.”
Unfortunately, He lamented our inability to be like Him in this regard. We have a tendency to receive honor from one another. Consequently, we miss out on the higher calling – of receiving honor from God. Evidently, that is the real source of one’s honor – if he is like Jesus. Oh, that we would be more like Him.
Since Jesus never accepted honor or accolades from anyone on earth, He could never lose honor. And if we take after Him, no one on earth can take honor away from us. Indeed, our path will shine ever brighter unto the perfect day. That is the real source of one’s honor.
A Bond Servant Of Christ
Paul also knew this fact but took his practice of it up one notch. In his effort to please and imitate Jesus, he deliberately gave up on men and their accolades. Let man not honor him; he was cool with that. What he could not abide was to be considered less than a slave of Jesus.
His position was clear. “For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Here was a man who totally understood the real source of one’s honor. It is no surprise that even today, he remains a blessing to our generation. He got it.
Let every man hate him because he is too busy pleasing God to bother with them. He did not want honor from anyone on earth; he could not be bothered. But from God? He wanted all he could get. He made himself a slave of Christ. Voluntarily, mind you.
Do Not Think Of Yourself More Highly Than You Ought
It is bad enough that we don’t know the real source of one’s honor. Worse is that some believers constitute their own source of honor. “Don’t you know who I am?’ they are wont to ask. “I healed the sick; walked on water; prophesied in Jesus’ name and so on.
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The danger of being your own cheerleader is that anytime you are not in high spirits, your worth evaporates. You essentially take that honor from yourself. I imagine that that is worse than to have others take it from you. Because in that moment of worthlessness, you may take your life. All because you failed to recognize the real source of one’s honor and validation.
Discovering The Real Source of One’s Honor
We earlier saw Jesus suggesting that our human nature makes it almost impossible for us to shun human honor. Is there a way to overcome that tendency? Again, we find the answer in Jesus, as always. He said, “if anyone serves me, him my Father will honor.”
And, believe me, once you have tasted honor from God, all other sources of honor are like dross. You don’t want any of them near you. I pray that we will serve God so that we can receive honor from God. That is how to discover and enjoy the real source of one’s honor.
Maranatha!
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