Honor is a choice
Honor is a choice. It is a creation borne out of deliberate decisions, an art we learn to embody. The honor we carry is crafted by the choices we make. Honor is reciprocal; the systems of honor we establish will eventually honor us in return. The places, relationships, and moments we choose to honor will ultimately reflect that honor back to us.
Choose to be honorable, regardless of the forces of dishonor around you. Don’t succumb to dishonor just because it’s the norm in your environment. Take, for example, Samuel, the son of Hannah. He was raised in a dishonorable home, among the corrupt and despicable children of Eli. Yet, Samuel grew up with honor because of the honor system he created for himself.
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (NKJV) Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, that the LORD called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!” So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down. Then the LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” (Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him.) And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”
This is a good model of creating honor. Eli’s children chose dishonor. They were in charge of the sacrifices, but they dishonored God by taking the sacrifices contrary to the law of the Levitical priesthood. They further dishonored the priesthood by sleeping with the women who served and came to the house. They lived in dishonor to their father. It was in this dishonorable state that Samuel created an honor system that raised him to honor.
1 Samuel 3:19-21 (NKJV) So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD. Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
Do you know the sons of Eli died a dishonorable death, which led to their father’s death, the capture of the Ark, and the defeat of Israel in war? This was the departure of the glory—Ichabod, which in Hebrew means “no glory” or “the glory is departed.”
1 Samuel 4:2-21 (NKJV) Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Also, the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli. Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see. Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.” And he said, “What happened, my son?” So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.” Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it. Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
Dishonoring what God honors is the creation of a dishonorable system that the creature will ultimately fall into.
Romans 9:21-23 (NKJV) Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory?
2 Timothy 2:20-21 (NKJV) But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
God didn’t create Pharaoh as a vessel of dishonor and Moses as a vessel of honor. They both created the system they lived in. Pharaoh dishonored the system of God’s mercy and compassion.
Romans 9:19-20 (NKJV) You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
Pharaoh resisted the will of God by replying against Him. To “reply against” is translated from the Greek word antapokrinomai, which implies to contradict in reply, to answer by contradiction, or to reply against. That was dishonorable to God. It was a direct challenge to God’s will and purpose.
In the same house, Moses honored God and created the honor system that honored him.
Hebrews 11:24-27 (NKJV) By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
He made his choice right in the midst of Egypt, in Pharaoh’s palace. He chose to honor Christ, the invisible God, and His purpose and will, rather than live on the throne in affluence, in opposition to the will of God.
Real dishonesty is to look down on the honor system of God. Abandon this and other forms of dishonesty. The glory of God is upon you. Choose to honor and create your honor system, which will crown your days with honor.
I call you blessed.